Let me get that for you The stranger says And opens the heavy door Of the convenience store As the snow falls around us. Here I got this for you My husband says Handing me a steaming cup of coffee From the drive-through kiosk across town The warm aroma fills the room. There’s bundt cake in the kitchen My colleague says The new guy brought it And look, he put orange slices around it Isn’t that pretty. I’m about to miss my connection The woman says, panic in her voice She has a tight hold on her daughter, A tiny thing with puffy pigtails and a pink backpack Most of us shift slightly and Gesture for her and her child To move ahead in the long line. I see her again On the other side of security She grabs her handbag From the conveyor belt But loses her grasp and it falls All the contents spilling out A river of coins and combs a child’s hair bow Pens and pills and an inhaler. I bend and start scooping A package of cough drops A name badge that says Renee A small book of Daily Inspirations. Her little girl looks on Clutching the straps of her pink backpack Will we make it mama she says. We’re crouching on the floor, Together on our knees The woman looks me in the eye As I hand her a set of keys Yes, baby, she says, We can make it if we hurry. There is a sacredness in small kindnesses. No need to explain why Or make statements About joy or grief or the sadness we may be feeling What we are rushing to or from Or even to introduce ourselves. We are simply here together When we open doors Or shift in line When we look at each other straight on. We are a hive, a tribe, bonded somehow When we make even fleeting gestures That say I see you. When we say I hope you make your flight.
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Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Iowa and California
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Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politic Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Macy Spensley, The Creative Midwesterner, Davenport/Des Moines
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
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This is what I needed as a correction to the Tyre Nichols video, which we watched last night. Something to restore my faith in humanity. Thank you, Suzanna
Beautiful piece!
People are quick to associate the airport (and travel) with chaos and selfishness, but send a day with me in the terminal, and you will see more of these kind interactions than you'd think. More often than not my faith in humanity is restored in places like baggage claim or the base of the escalators.