The kindness of strangers

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” –Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Yesterday I experienced the kindness of strangers. I was feeling anxious about a situation I was going through, and very vulnerable. Everywhere I seemed to go in our small town, folks were nice to me. Two women in particular, neither of whom I had ever laid eyes on before, truly ministered to me with their winning smiles and kind words. I’m sure one of them had more than an inkling of what I was going through, but the other was clueless. Nevertheless, both reached out to me from their hearts.

A more fanciful person might have said, “Perhaps they were angels and you didn’t even know it!” No. They were just two people doing their jobs to the best of their ability, and caring about the strangers who crossed their paths. I don’t even know their names, but I am most grateful.

Then today one of my Christian co-workers at our Christian school was pretty darn rude to me. Go figure. I’ll try to give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he was just having a bad day. Or maybe he would have been kinder to me if I’d been a stranger…?