Describe a moment of kindness, between you
and someone else — loved one or complete stranger.
I was
waiting for my plane at the airport in Majuro, the capital of the Republic of
the Marshall Islands. I had been there on a business trip, working with
students who were taking a teacher training class I was facilitating online
with Park University. We had a successful few days, and due to some difficult
times I was going through back at my home on Kwajalein, I was lost in my own
melancholy thoughts while waiting. In the midst of this, I recognized one of my
students approaching me from across the way.
I was jolted out of my thoughts and greeted him. He showered me with some beautiful woven
necklaces and earrings, the likes of which I had not yet received or seen in my
years on the islands. They were the
newest style. As he put the necklaces
around my neck, I felt myself tearing up….I was a bit embarrassed by this, but
given where my mind had been just seconds before, I was on the verge of it
anyway, and the immense kindness it took to travel out to the airport to
deliver this gift to me before I got on the plane was overwhelming.
This is a
typical Marshallese tradition, to given woven jewelry to those who have
provided some service to them, but usually, for me, it was given by students
I’d had for a whole semester or teachers I had been working with for years. This time, it was from students I had only
spent a couple of days with and would not see again before moving from the
islands or possibly ever. These students were mostly acquaintances at best, but
it didn’t matter how much or how little I had done for them, it was important
to show their thanks, and it’s just the kind of encouragement I needed at the
time. It gave my life meaning during a
time when I didn’t feel worth much else to anyone else in my life. So, remember…the smallest gestures, which may
have not been a big deal for you to offer, can mean the world to someone else
who needs just what you have to give at that moment in time.
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