She was in the parking lot with a cart full of bags to be loaded in her car. Her purse was in the child's seat area and the cart was behind the car with the trunk opened. She loaded the bags, two by two and the thief timed his walk through the parking lot so that she was turned away, loading bags into the trunk as he passed the cart.
He nonchalantly reached in and calmly took the purse and kept walking. She didn't even know what had transpired until she finished with the last bag and went for her purse. It was gone.
This created a huge mess for my friend. You know the drill. Call all the credit card companies, alert banks, feel violated and lose trust in mankind. Yeah, that kind of thing. But there was one item in her purse that can never be replaced. It was a memento that she has carried for the past 40 years or so.
I came upon the thought that this one person's bad action has caused a huge negative ripple in the karmasphere. Yes, it's true. And I decided to counteract that negative stuff by committing to doing 10 random acts of kindness before Christmas. These random acts of kindness must be done for strangers, not for anyone I know personally. Ten of these acts will possibly negate the one act of thievery.
Yesterday I had my first chance at kindness. I left the house to run an errand and noticed two cable technicians working on one of those switching boxes at the end of our street. It was very cold and in order to properly work on the cables, they were bare-handed. Yikes!
On my way back from the errand (only 10 minutes) I stopped at McDonalds and got two large cups of coffee. I was excited. A random act of kindness was in the works. I could complete one within minutes.
As I approached our road the unthinkable happened. No trucks. No technicians. They had finished their job and moved on.
Uhhhhhh...... FAIL.
Not only fail - it was a fail leaving two large cups of high octane coffee to be consumed. And so, I did, and spent the evening hopped up on caffeine and sewing like a madwoman.
Today's another day. If you're in northern Illinois take heed. I might just be kind to you today.
15 comments:
The hard part for me is thinking of random acts of kindness to do. Coming up with 10 would be a real challenge. But kudos to you!
oh.. well you tried.. maybe next time you can get the coffee to them :-)
I thought you were going to write that all your friends Christmas gifts were stolen from their home.
this happened to some friends of mine.. all wrapped up the tree for the thieves too ! PLUS their teen dd was sleeping in the basement at the time.. thankfully they didn't know she was there ! Not only did this happen to them ONCE ,but twice a couple years later. Seems the thieves figured once good , twice better !
What an awful thing to have happen to your neighbour! Good luck with future acts of kindness!
I'm so sorry that happened to your neighbor, but since I do the same thing I am going to put my purse in the back/trunk FIRST, then put the bags in....and if I need my purse take it back out again! Those dirty rotten scoundrels!
About 15 years ago, my parents house was broken into when we were gone to my grandmother's house on Christmas Day! They kicked the front door in (ignoring the alarm systemt that we had), and by passed all the electronics and Christmas gifts by the tree, and went straight to my room! This was in the days of Super Nintendo, and that was exactly what they swiped from my room! They were in a hurry, so they didn't even get all the cords that went with it, but to unplug it, they completely flipped over my dresser! You could tell they tried to take my tv, but this was also in the days of ridiculously heavy smaller tvs, and couldn't get out with it and the Super Nintendo. They did leave some smudged fingerprints on it that we never could get off. They even stopped long enough to knock the ashes off their cigarette into my fish bowl. Of course the police didn't take any fingerprints or anything, so they never got caught. I'm surprised the cops found our house, because when our house got broken into before, it took 2 hours for them to get there. We actually drove in our driveway to see them running out of the house that time, so you think the police would've been a little faster.
Oh Suzanne, I am so sorry for your friend. Seems like the Holidays can be a mixture of blessings and trials.
However, I love, love, love your idea of blessing others - 10 times before Christmas!
I am going to do it too! And, with your permission, I am going to post it on FaceBook for others to do as well. Can you imagine! Thank you for the inspiration!
Sorry you got all hopped up trying to do a good deed (but it was funny) :) When I'm at the grocery store and walking in, if I see someone who has just finished unloading their cart I'll offer to take it back for them - makes everyone feel good :)
I'm sorry for your friend. I carry in my purse a special little pebble that my granddaughter gave me when she was about 6. It was the first gift I ever got from a grandkid, and it was so sweet how she gave it to me like it was one of her most treasured possessions. I'd be devastated to lose that pebble.
<3 Terri
I always load my purse in the back first and retrieve it before closing the hatch. I hope karma pays the thief a visit.
I secure mine with the kiddie seat belt. He would have had to take the whole damn cart;)
My purse never leaves my shoulder or arm. Never. I don't set it in the cart for one second, I don't leave it on the seat of the car when I get gas, etc. My sister would say that I'm paranoid. I say I'm wisely cautious. There are mean people in this world and they will rob anybody that they can.
After saying that though, well Suzanne I'm glad you took one for the team and drank all that coffee. Hee hee.
You have a great idea, committing random acts of kindness, and I think it's a splendid idea to pass along.
Hopefully you won't have to consume too many doses of caffeine between now and Christmas in order to carry out your plan. I think I will try to implement your plan, but in a caffeine-free version. ;)
Maybe you should just concentrate on passing out some of those whipped cream martinis. :)
Thanks for yet another thought-provoking, kindness-inducing post!
That stinks. Crime seems to be up around the holidays. I love your idea about the random acts of kindness and I guarantee you will have more success in the future. And please don't feel that you alone must counteract this unpleasant event. It seems you are already inspiring your readers to do good things so that will share the load.
When I was in graduate school in DC (about 15 years ago), I went out to dinner in Chinatown with my classmates. While there, someone broke into my car and stole our 3 backpacks. Luckily no wallets were inside but one friend had a notebook of poetry she had written that was precious to her. About a week later, I was contacted by a man who had found the backpacks thrown aside in a Metro subway station. He tracked me down and I was able to go to his house and retrieve the bags intact. We were all thrilled to get our things back. He insisted on no reward but we scraped up some funds and got him a gift card to show him our appreciation. Some people would have just thrown them in the trash.
Hope more positive things cross your path from here on!!!
Lagging at the coffee thing. Earlier was laughing at a baking tip: to soften butter wrap it in a towel and put a cat on top for a nap.
Weirdness makes me laugh.
Lagging at the coffee thing. Earlier was laughing at a baking tip: to soften butter wrap it in a towel and put a cat on top for a nap.
Weirdness makes me laugh.
I too decided to take up your plan with a few adjustments. I had a plan to do 5 act of random kindness yesterday while I was out shopping. I managed to do three. It is more difficult to do than I imagined.
I bought a coffee for the girl in line behind me at Starbucks, gave my Christmas pin to a nice girl in a shop, and bought a young man a CD at the book store. I had planned to give my new scarf to someone and buy someone a weeks bus pass but the kiosk to purchase the tickets was closed. Thank you for the idea! A dreaded day of holiday shopping turned into a heartwarming memory.
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