Little Things

[BrokenolMarine]

Years ago, I took an assignment out of patrol while I healed from a major knee surgery, a total replacement.
I worked in the Communities enforcing Zoning Regulations. I often worked with folks that called in complaints on a regular
basis, and the other inspectors complained about them all the time. "Don't these folks have anything else to
do with their time, I have other things to do....

Actually, I used to think to myself, "WE don't have other things to do, this is our JOB and the complaints these
folks call in are most often valid ones."

One morning one of my regular reporting citizens called in on my car phone and asked if I wanted to
meet him at a local grocery chain for lunch and seemed surprised when I agreed. (Hey, gotta eat and that store was was in my assigned district.)
At the end of the lunch period, the man handed me a list with seven more "complaints" on it. He said he appreciated
the fact that I took his calls seriously and had started to make a difference in his small community. I told him that
all his concerns were valid and he had every right to call in. I reinforced that he had my number if he needed my help. Over
the summer he would call me direct instead of calling in on the "hot line" and give me the complaints directly. I began to get five to ten a week. He expanded to cover the other neighborhoods in my district. Our once a week meeting became twice a week. After lunch one day he asked if there was any way I could follow him across the lot to Sams Club and wait in the lot while he ran in and bought his cat litter, since he couldn't load the bags. They were too heavy for him to lift. (He was an older gentleman and not in good health.) Sometimes Sams took forever to get help to follow him out to his jeep to help load the bags.

No problem I told him, I usually sat in my car after lunch and caught up the morning's paperwork before starting the afternoon's workload. I had plenty of paperwork to do and I can take care of that while you do what you need to do... that too became part of the weekly routine.

As Christmas neared, his wife joined us for lunch one Friday and when he went to the restroom, she pulled a package
from her oversized bag and pushed it across the table.

"This is for you," she said, "for all you have done for him."
"I haven't done anything for him but listen to him and meet him for lunch. He has helped ME if you want to know the truth of the matter."
"You don't know how much that means," she said. She had tears in her eyes. "He was clinically depressed due to health reasons, he was making final plans to take his life, he was depressed and thought no one cared. Then you started calling to confirm this and that in his complaints, and let him know the progress you had made. You had lunch with him that one day... and said you would meet him the following week. Suddenly he had something to look forward to. He looked forward to each lunch and had a Friend."

We never know how much the little things we do, can mean so much to those we do them for.
I have never forgotten that lesson.

Even after I went back to patrol, I would stop by at least every other week to meet for lunch, and I called a couple times a week to chat. Miss Tina and I would visit. We did so until his wife passed and he moved in with his kids in another state.

[Ozarkwoodswalker]

You are so correct. We often do not realize the ripple effect our actions have on people and the world. Go forth and do right and good.... it does spread out in ways we are often unaware of, and it does make a difference in the world. Good story and good for you for what good your actions resulted in.

[GunnyGene]

Despite what we are fed by the 24/7 news cycle, there are still good people in this country. You're one of them. Thank you.

[bikeridertim]

Thank you for sharing this, sometimes something as small as 5 minutes of your day goes a long way in some else's life! WONDERFUL example of a true man!!

[BrokenolMarine]

It's not about me, but thanks. The point here is that we have no idea how much the little things mean.
I read a story years ago about a middle school kid who picked up the books knocked out of the hands of the smallest kid in class as they all walked home. The bullies had done it every day since school started a few weeks before... just because. He picked up the books and handed them back to the kid and told him they lived on the same block but hadn't met. "It's a lonely walk sometimes, why don't YOU keep me company both ways." They became friends thru middle and high school but lost touch after leaving for college.

At the 25 year high school reunion, that young boy, now a man with a very successful business, a wife and family, told his old friend that he had decided he wasn't going to go thru another year being bullied... that one act of kindness had changed the course of his life. We never know...

Little things that cost us nothing can mean so much to others. There are many that stand out in MY difficult childhood.
- The gas station owner taking the few minutes to show me how to change that bike tube when I was a little un.
- The childless old couple who put up the swing in the oak in their yard so they could watch the neighborhood kids laugh and swing in it.
- One of my teachers taking the time to stay after and work on a story I was writing, not an assignment for a class, just a story, because she liked to see "creativity in action."
- The owner of the local gun shop when I was ten or eleven giving me small jobs around the shop rather than running me off, because my answer when he asked me why I kept coming around was "I like the smell of the leather and the cleaning stuff." I swept, dusted, raked or swept the parking lot. I was paid in .22 ammo. But I got to sit on a stool and watch him work on the guns, make holsters, belts, and sheaths. I sat quietly in the corner when not working and watched his interactions with customers. Just a couple days of my week that summer, but I loved it.

[daytime dave]

Very true. Small things can often add up to more than their individual weight.
Never overlook the opportunity to make a friend.

[cooperhawk]

My VFW Post brings in a lot of money during the year by selling poppies and doing funerals and such.
Every year in December we do wellness check for all our members. This year we gave each member
a $25.00 gift card when we visited them.
Doing this we have found numerous members in various types of distress. We use our money to help
them when we can.
Little things mean a lot when You're an old vet and think everyone has forgotten you, and we show up
with whatever help we can provide.
We are now doing a program of visiting Assisted Living Homes just to visit with old vets and talking
war stories with them.

[North Country Gal]

That is a wonderful thing you have shared. Can't thank you enough.