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| Vera Kratochvil |
Years ago, I worked for one of the Sheraton resorts during a
time when they were working on getting their “fifth star” (a prestigious hotel rating). They had a motto, “little things mean a lot”. As a hotel operator, it mean going the extra
mile, being as polite as possible, and smiling.
They say you can hear a smile through the phone (do you think that is
true?).
Honestly, that was one of my favorite jobs, I really enjoyed
it. The phrase “little things mean a lot”
has stuck with me over the years because it is so true…for individuals as well
as resorts. Recently, I posted about how
inspired I was by Linda Cohen’s experience and book 1,000 Mitzvahs. She challenged others to try it…1,000 acts of
service. I decided to take up her
challenge and invited you to join me.
Some of you did, thank you! For
you this blog post is a reminder. Some
of you haven’t taken the challenge yet and I imagine that it is because you are
thinking that you don’t have enough time to take on one more thing. If that is the case, then I have good news
for you…acts of kindness do not have to be big, or time consuming to bless
lives (YOURS and the person you help!)
This challenge is particularly for my fellow survivors, it may be hard
to believe now, but doing small acts of kindness is healing.
The hardest thing for me so far is asking myself, can I
really count that? I have a journal
where I am keeping track of my Mitzvahs…simply to keep track so I will know
when I have reached 1000…and to keep me from forgetting my goal. The latter being the more important!
Here is an example. I
have decided it counts. Linda talks
about debating with her husband about whether changing a roll of toilet paper in
a public bathroom counted, and they decided it did! You can read about it in her book. Here’s my “roll of toilet paper” moment.
My daughter and I went to the store, and we got a cart
because we planned to pick up several things.
Our first stop was looking at some fabric. While we were trying to decide, an older
gentleman, with his arms full of items stopped and said, “Hey can I have this
cart you aren’t using?”
My first thought was, “I AM going to use it.” But then I smiled and said, “Of course, I was
just saving it for you.” Later as my
daughter and I were walking to the register with OUR arms full, I told her, “I
should have kept the cart and told him ‘Go away, we don’t talk to strangers!’”….she
gave me that “you’re weird Mom” look that teenagers are well known for because she knew I didn't mean it.
The truth of it is giving that gentleman my cart (that I did
in fact need myself) gave me such a great feeling. It was a little thing for me to do…a really
little thing, but it made me feel good. Give it a try. Today
try and do a
small tiny act of kindness for someone else. Something so small you wonder if it really
even counts, and see if it doesn’t bring a smile to your face!
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Photo attribution:
Vera Kratochvil
Monday Mitzvahs was inspired by Linda Cohen and her book
1000 Mitzvahs. You can learn more about her
here on facebook. Or read her book!
