What kind of world do you live in

We all make choices everyday about  the type of world we live in and perpetuate.  We can shut and lock our doors both physically and metaphorically and keep ourselves away from our neighbours and country men.  We can ignore the happenings in our own neighbourhoods and allow children to cry in the streets.  Or, we can do the opposite, we can walk out our doors and embrace our neighbours and our world.

Cupcakes that I made with my son for his hair stylist's birthday

It can be as simple as a hug , a plate of home baked cookies to a neighbour, a few minutes weeding in a community garden or even sharing your extra garden produce with your co-workers.  It doesn't have to be something big, it can be a tiny effort for you, but it might make a world of difference to another.

My dad and mom

I was thinking of my dad the other day and realised that he was such a person. He made a difference in many small ways.  These weren't planned efforts, but rather, just the way he was.  He saw something needing doing and he did it.

He had a little white pickup truck that he loved to drive.  If he was going somewhere and saw a grocery cart along the way, he would stop and put it in the back.  Later he would drive to the store and put it back in the lot.  He didn't go it to claim money for returning the cart, they are very expensive to purchase, he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do.

He would also drive his little truck along the street he lived on and stop at each tree.  He would get out his pruning sheers and snip off the tiny branchlets that were starting to grow from the trunk  as well as the sprouts from the base of the tree.  Something that should have been carried out by city work crews, but never seemed to get done.  Nobody seemed to mind, though he felt that the little white truck helped, since it was similar to the trucks that were used by the city.  A small thing you might think, but trees that he pruned have been growing better than the un-pruned ones, and they looks so very much better.

My sister, mom and dad at Niagara Falls

In case you are thinking that he only did these things because he was retired and had nothing better to do, not so.  One summer when I was home from university and dad was working out of town, he picked up a hitch hiker along the route.  When we asked him why, because he rarely did this, he said it was because the fellow was holding a sign saying he was looking for a ride to Niagara.  Niagara is region not a specific spot.  Dad figured he was a tourist and he was, a student from Germany.  Dad brought him home, fed him, gave his some souvenirs from the area and then drove him to Niagara Falls, toured him around and then dropped him off at a hostel.  Why would he go to all that effort for a stranger. He told us that he hoped that if his children where strangers somewhere, that another person would show them such kindness.

My grandmother at her 97th Christmas

I don't have to wonder long where he got this from, my grandmother used to take cookies to the staff at the doctor's office, she would make lunch for workmen who were hired to do work at her house and many other little things.

 I find myself doing similar things, volunteering at races, warm cinnamon rolls to share with my neighbour, picking up garbage off the street when I am walking.  Small things in the vastness of this world, but each one of them a positive force.

I want to live in a world that is friendly and inviting.  Where I know my neighbours and they know me.