13 November 2021 Helpers

For some reason I am thinking about Fred Rogers tonight. When I remember him I feel warm inside. Sometimes when I see old reruns of his show I will start to cry when he sings. He was just so kind! He had one of those faces you see in a crowd and you just know everything is going to be ok.

One of those small comforts has come to be Fred Rogers’s famous advice to look for the helpers. “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” Rogers said to his television neighbors, “my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ (Source Internet)

Who are the helpers in your life? There are so many we can’t even see but they are there. I think about turning on the light switch and there being light. So many helpers working round the clock to make sure we have light, heat and cooling. There is of course our police, firemen, gas station attendants, snow plow drivers, truckers, ferrymen, military, doctors, nurses, waiters, cooks, hair dressers, IT people and so many other professions that work round the clock making our lives better. My ex husband used to work at a dry cleaners. He told me it felt like his kindness was the only kindness some of his customers saw all day! A friendly smile and hello helping make what might of been a miserable day into a better one. He consciously chose to be a helper.

Are you a helper? Are you one of the lights in our sometimes dark days? Sometimes all you have to do is smile. Hold a door for someone. Say hello and wave. Try a random act of kindness. For example I’ve seen people pay for another persons groceries before. Just one thing can sometimes change somebody’s life. Kindness is the right kind of contagion!