Doing the right thing is always a good thing, but it becomes great when no one is looking. Little did these two gentlemen of Gulf Coast Environmental Contractors know, I was watching and now I get to share their kindness and compassion that brought warmth to my heart and a tear to my eye last week.
It was late afternoon last Wednesday, May 24 when I decided to drive over to Veterans Memorial Park to snap some photos of the flag display placed by the Seville Rotary Club the day prior.
Almost immediately upon arrival, the wind whipped up and a dark storm cloud loomed in the near distance. I parked my car and quickly began walking towards the flags that lined Bayfront. In most situations, I am a pretty observant person.
Today was no different. I didn’t notice anything suspicious or out of the ordinary.
An elderly woman sitting on a park bench enjoying the outdoors.
Some landscapers preparing the lawn and grounds for the hundreds of visitors that would visit the park Memorial Weekend.
And then me, phone in hand, walking though a field of flags.
After five minutes of taking photos, I started to feel large drops of rain begin to fall from the ominous sky above. It was one of those quick, but intense summer storms. One moment you’re enjoying a sunny, serene day and the next you’re wondering if sky is falling and if Mother Nature is sending us all to our room.
Within seconds of shutting my car door, the rain had picked up and I was grateful to be in my car and undercover. I sat in my driver seat scrolling through the photos I just took for a moment and waited for the storm to calm down before driving home. I started my car, flipped on my windshield wipers and what I saw next reminded me of all that is good in the world.
The landscapers I had seen earlier held an umbrella over the the elderly woman on the bench as they walked her over to her car. Despite only being 50 feet from her car, the walk to her car probably took a total of 10 minutes as the rain only continued to get heavier and heavier. Ten minutes in a torrential downpour is a long time.
Both men unbothered by the fact that they were getting completely drenched and completely concerned on making sure they kept her as dry as possible and that she got to her car safely. The three of them made it to the car where they let her in the driver seat and continued to pack away her walker into the car. When the stranger they had seen on the park that day was safe and sound, they sprinted back to their truck completely saturated.
As I sat in my car and watched this scene out of a movie play out right in front of my own eyes, I couldn’t help but let my eyes well up and sob in my car for the next five minutes while I processed the entire thing.
Kindness connects us to a world we never knew about or world maybe we forgot about.
Kindness creates memories that never get lost.
Kindness is a universal language.
Some people show kindness to make themselves or others feel good, but authentic kindness gives people a feeling of hope.
And that’s what these two gentleman made me feel, hope.
P.S. —As I finished writing this story and looked at the photo I took, I just realized her t-shirt and what it says. “See the Good” — which makes this whole experience even more divine. After I witnessed this beautiful moment, I texted my co-editor about it. My text read “When you see the good and focus on the good in the world, you become a magnet for all good things.” Goosebumps!
