Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Neighbors

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." ~~Norman Schwarzkopf

So this afternoon I was on the phone with my cousin. She was telling me, among other things, that one of her neighbors had stopped by with his tractor and plowed the snow from her driveway the other day. This was a great blessing for her, as her husband had major heart attack not that long ago, and he is no longer physically able to do things like shoveling snow.

So, I get off the phone and go into the kitchen, look out the window, and while I was on the phone with my cousin one of my neighbors had plowed my driveway. I am not sure which neighbor, but I have a good idea. The truth of the matter is, I live in a good neighborhood. When my husband was killed by a drunk driver there were still a couple  months left in the mowing season. So, the able bodied men in my neighborhood took turns mowing my grass for the next 7 or 8 weeks.

Doing the right thing. Some people just naturally do the right thing, they don't even have to think about it, it is just the way they live. Some people mean to do the right thing and never get around to it. Some people know what the right thing is but choose to ignore it. It really does all come down to making choices.

The neighbors who plowed my cousin's driveway and my driveway did not have to take the time out of their day to help a neighbor. My neighbors are aware that I am a physically disabled widow raising a developmentally disabled child. My cousin's neighbor did not know her husband was unable to shovel snow, he just saw someone shoveling their driveway and stopped to help.In fact, he was out with his tractor for the purpose of helping neighbors.

We get cynical sometimes. The news, the internet, social media are all filled with stories about bad things happening to good people. We rarely see stories about good people helping good people. I know I need to choose to see the good things more often. There are so many issues in my life right now. Medical problems, serious financial problems, my weight loss struggles,  and grief try to take my eyes off of the right things. But then a neighbor plows a driveway, and I am reminded that doing the right thing doesn't take long, it just take choosing to do it.A choice that good neighbors make regularly. Not hard at all.

2 comments:

Debbie Kaye said...

Bless you EB. Love you! Debbie kaye

Roy Durham said...

the is good in the bad it,s just that the choice get all the attention, and the good don't want or need it. god bless great job writing

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