I recently came across an act of kindness that had previously never been disclosed to the recipient. It concerned the efforts of a teacher, who more than fifty years ago fought to keep one of his pupils in school when all around him had lost hope in the student. In the end the pupil went on to become tremendously successful; over-achieving and contributing to the lives of many around him, in ways that no one could ever have dreamed of at the time. He was totally unaware of his teacher’s efforts and was touched on hearing of this kind support. More often than not acts of kindness go unnoticed. I was very charitably invited to participate in a driver awareness course some time ago, apparently attended entirely by people whose employers wanted them to be better, more aware road users. The facilitator began by explaining the domino effect of an act of kindness. She pointed out that simple things like smiling or letting another car pass in front of us in traffic can change the demeanour of the other person involved. The result is often happier road users and consequently fewer accidents. The same theory could be applied to shopping. Visiting a local shop, seeing and touching the products that one might purchase, chatting to the owner and enjoying the camaraderie of shared experience with other shoppers is something that can’t be compared to an online option. It also offers a better chance of acquiring the right gift at Christmas. One year I was presented with a beautiful cooking apron that looked like a perfect Dad present. It even had an amusing slogan on it and would provide endless hours of enjoyment in the kitchen. Unfortunately, what wasn’t obvious from the website was the fact that it was designed for a toddler. Thankfully that still provided much amusement but if it hadn’t, then like many other online purchases an attempt to return it wouldn’t have seemed worth the effort. It would have been so much easier to just pop into a local shop the next time in town. So this year’s Christmas list for Santa is fairly straight forward—shop local. FB
