A quick scan at the news on my iPhone or iPad news app can make be shudder in horror. The craziness is so bizarre that it’s easy to forget these were real people, real families experiencing sudden loss. Still, the “unexpected and suddenly” deaths occurring in the prime of life continue to occur in record numbers. We are so busy with our own lives we quickly move on from the sudden, unexplained death of an otherwise healthy 45-year-old. The family may not recover so quickly, but we do perhaps to the detriment of protecting our own friends and family.
In the midst of tragedy, two stories were shared with me recently. Several people shared the story of a young man, married, father of three young children, high level job with lots of responsibility who routinely reached out to his neighbors. He checked to see if his elderly neighbors needed their lawn mowed in the summer, driveway shoveled in the winter. These acts of kindness are not done for pay, just routine kindness.
A woman shared with me how a local high school student has always checked on her to see if she needed the hilly part of her lawn mowed. He expects no payment in return. It’s just an opportunity to do for others.
The same thing was said about the teen as well as the man in his 40’s; “they must have been raised by great parents.”