By Joel Levey
We were touched when a couple of our friends/students offered to come over and help us trim a tree with vines that was hanging dangerously over our neighbors’ power lines.
They brought over their ladders and saws, we shared some chocolate and music with them and after a few hours had managed to trim the tree and remove the danger of our neighbors’ electricity being cut during an wind or ice storm. I was very grateful and relieved! While we were working on the project, I talked with a neighbor who I hadn’t seen for a while and who I had wondered about, with some concern if she was okay.
As it turned out, she had been seriously ill and was just regaining her strength and returning to work. She commented that she’d love to trim one of her trees – which was much more to a scale that I could handle with the tools and ladder that I have, so I offered to help her to prune her tree, for which she was delighted and most grateful.
What a natural cascade of kindness and compassion flowing from one heart-life to another as needs arise that we have the power to help with. May we all be blessed to receive and offer such kindness, helpfulness, and compassion to others and pay it forward.
(Note – there’s a great video that captures the spirit of this this – posted at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU&feature=youtu.be )