The Kindness of Strangers
Last week I shared some pretty personal information and a lot of folk read it, apparently. Thank you. It was personal, of course, but it was also general too. Most of us are only a few steps away from a financial crisis. Life can be pretty precarious in a cost of living crisis without a job. It seemed to chime a chord for some folk and despite the lack of comments, there were lots of messages of support.
We are fortunate to have good friends and have been loaned the money to pay our bills this month. Next month is another story, but we’re working on it and doing as much as we can to find sources of income, including, obviously, applying for jobs. Well, my husband is. As someone with chronic health issues, there is a limit to what I can do. Holding down a full-time job which pays our bills is not one of them, but my art, baking and writing does bring in some coffers and I’m very grateful to people who support my wee indie businesses.
People who don’t know us have sent contacts for my husband to get in touch with, sent messages with job ads and put out feelers with their own networks. On Twitter(X) people re-tweeted my request for any jobs that my husband might apply for and people messaged. Friends have been super-supportive, which I never take for granted, though am not entirely surprised by because we have generous, kind, thoughtful and supportive friends. You don’t expect kindness and generosity from strangers though. We’ve been lead to believe that the world is full of people who don’t care, or worse, takers and users. We’ve been brainwashed into being cynical and suspicious of people’s motives; we’re conditioned into negativity. This last week we’ve only seen the best: strangers have cared enough to get in touch, to offer support, to do something practical. One person bought one of my paintings, as a gesture of support. They did like the painting, but even so….wanting to do something for someone you don’t know seems a little miraculous somehow.
I don’t believe the world is full of hate and nastiness and neither is the world of social media. There are kind people, thoughtful people, helpful people out there; people who care - people very much like you and me, I guess. I’ve been bought to tears by people’s kindness over the last week - in a good way - and it’s helped me click into a more positive track. Our situation doesn’t have a resolution currently, it’s still a work in progress, but the kindness of strangers and the support of friends makes a massive difference.
Thank you.