Alaska with attitude: Random acts of kindness

Friday, November 18, 2011

Random acts of kindness

I always liked the sound of that, but never really set out to do any. How many opportunities come up anyway? And then recognizing and again (gasp) doing something, well the odds against them are pretty big. So, without that in mind I set out today on the annual search for a small turkey and Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. Oh, and too, to address a bit of a health problem, which in the end didn't get addressed.

Anyway, at the first store I was meandering down an aisle until I was stopped by a roadblock. On one side a Walmart stocker was filling a shelf. On the other a very frail woman who honestly didn’t look strong enough to be shopping alone, was in one of those electric carts and trying to extract a tray of candy from the display it had been crammed into. I watched her patiently for a minute, glanced at the Walmart guy who sort of looked over his shoulder and then went back to his work, and finally realized the woman needed some help. So, I walked over, asked her loudly enough for the Walmart guy to hear, and then pulled the stubborn candy out of the display and put it in her basket for her.

She smiled, started up her machine and rolled past me and we both went on our ways.

After checking out of that store, I went to the next for just couple of things I couldn't find. As I was waiting in the checkout, I realized a new problem had presented itself. A young girl was checking out a whole basket full of what looked like party mix supplies. I could see she had a ten and a twenty in her hand and when the total came out to more than $60 she looked totally shocked, and then embarrassed and then that quizzical look that said "What do I do now?" The checker was very patient. The girl's shopping list turned out to be a recipe for the mix and the checker went down each item telling the girl she didn't need this much or that much and that maybe she just needed to make a smaller batch. I thought that was much nicer than getting all upset with her, the poor kid seemed just lost. I think maybe she was looking forward to her first party (it being Friday and all) and among other things wondering how it would go if she didn't bring the party mix.

In time the checker had the amount under $40 and was still going. At that point I looked in my wallet and found a five-dollar bill, but before I could get it out the total had dropped to $31.99. Impasse. Nothing more could be taken off the list and the kid was $2 short. And I had two bills for that. So I offered my $2. The checker looked so appreciative, the girl smiled at me like I had saved the world and I just said, "It's happened to all of us at some time or other."

When the girl left, the checker thanked me for my patience. And I told her I thought it was great how she took the time to help the girl work it out. As the kids say sometimes (or did) It's all good.
So, two in one day. Not bad. Maybe it was because in the first place I looked there was a bin of small turkeys and a display of Pepperidge Farm stuffing products.

So, next Thursday if you are in the neighborhood, I have this turkey that is still way more than I can eat, and whole lot of other stuff, and am planning to sit down and enjoy "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" on television. Come on by.

OH, and the picture: Have you ever seen a fatter chickadee in your life? They are all puffed out to keep warm, but this guy was noticeably bigger than the others. Maybe I won't have to look so far for a small turkey next year.

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Some interesting quotations

You know that I always just wanted to have a small ship to take stuff from a place that had a lot of that stuff to a place that did not have a lot of that stuff and so prosper. -- Jackie Faber, "The Wake of the Lorelei Lee"

If an insurance company won't pay for damages caused by an "act of God," shouldn't it then have to prove the existence of God? -- I said that

Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else. -- Gloria Steinem

Exceed your bandwidth-- sign on the wall of the maintenance shop at the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

One thing I do know, if you keep at it, you usually wind up getting something done. -- Patricia Monaghan

Do you want to know what kind of person makes the best reporter? I’ll tell you. A borderline sociopath. Someone smart, inquisitive, stubborn, disorganized, chaotic, and in a perpetual state of simmering rage at the failings of the world. -- Brett Arends

It is a very simple mind that only knows how to spell a word one way. -- Andrew Jackson

3:30 is too late or too early to do anything -- Rene Descartes

Everything is okay when it's 50-below as long as everything is okay. -~ Hudson Stuck

You can have your own opinion but you can't have your own science. -- commenter arguing on a story about polar bears and global warming

He looks at three failed marriages as a good start -- TV police drama

Talkeetna: A friendly little drinking town with a climbing problem. -- a handmade bumper sticker

"You're either into the wall or into the show" -- Marco Andretti on giving it all to qualify last at the 2011 Indy 500

Makeup is not for the faint of heart -- the makeup guerrilla

"I'm going to relax in a very adult manner." --Danica Patrick after sweating it out and qualifying half an hour before Andretti

"Asking Congress to come back is like asking a mugger to come back because he forgot your wallet." -- a roundtable participant on Fox of all places

As Republicans go further back in the conception process to define when life actually begins, I am beginning to the think the eventual definition will be life begins in the beer I was drinking when I met her. -- me again

Hunting is a "critical element for the long-term conservation of wood bison." -- a state department of Fish and Game official explaining why the state would not go along with a federal plan to reintroduce wood bison in Alaska because the agreement did not specifically allow hunting

Each day do something that won't compute -- anon

It's not about how many times you get knocked down; it's about how many times you get up -- Tim Tebow

I can't believe I still have to protest this shit -- sign carried by an elderly woman at an Occupy demonstration

Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing -- Meg Chittenden

Life should be a little nuts or else it's just a bunch of Thursdays strung together -- Kevin Costner as Beau Burroughs in "Rumor has it"

You're just a wanker whipping up fear -- Irish President Michael D. Higgins to a tea party radio announcer

Being president doesn't change who you are; it reveals who you are -- Michelle Obama

You might be an Alaskan, if …

… you see a girl in a bikini and you fantasize how good she would look in Carhartts.
... you're keeping Uncle Fred in the freezer until you can bury him in the spring after the ground thaws
...you see the word "parmeson" on a sign and at first wonder why there's no "t" in it
… somehow you just know a 15 cu. ft. freezer is the smallest you can pack a whole moose into.
… the width of a normal runway is plenty of room to land any airplane you've ever flown in.
… you named your boat after your wife and spelled her name wrong.
… you own two blow dryers and neither one has ever been used to dry hair, unless it was the dog.
… the non-skid on your porch steps is made from a snowmachine track.
… your idea of a lawn ornament is a moose rack drying on a broken snowmachine.
… you say snowmachine.
… you see beetle-killed spruce and think YES! Firewood in the bank.
… you think a stadium means four guys looking at something dead in the bed of a pickup.
… you've had to convince a telephone sales person you DO live in the United States.
… your rifle cost more than your pickup, and …
… what's on your trailer cost more than your house.

Augustus Birch-Alder says …

You know it's cold outside, when you come indoors, get something out of the freezer for dinner and it feels warm.
What is an Alaskan? Forget that Yukon, Eskimo, grizzly bear thing. An Alaskan is just a guy who's been here a year longer than you have.
Too many people are trying to fix the blame instead of the problem.
There's nothing like originality.
Pain is how your body tells you something is wrong
Nothing is barren except to those who will not see.
Look at that girl roll and rock it; we can't all be Davy Crockett
If you can't do something, do something else.
If you buy two of the same thing, one of them will work the way it's supposed to
If you buy three similar shirts at the same time, you will wear one of them three times as often as you wear either of the other two
If an insurance company refuses to pay damage from an act of god, shouldn't the company then have to prove the existence of god?
God is a single father
A mistake is proof somebody tried to do something.

An Eschatological Laundry List:

1. This is it!

2. There are no hidden meanings.

3. You can’t get there from here, and besides there’s no place else to go.

4. We are already dying and we will be dead for a long time.

5. Nothing lasts.

6. There is no way of getting all you want.

7. You can’t have anything unless you let go of it.

8. You only get to keep what you give away.

9. There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.

10. The world is not necessarily just. Being good does not always pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.

11. You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.

12. It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.

13. You don’t really control anything.

14. You can’t make anyone love you.

15. No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.

16. Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.

17. There are no great men.

18. If you have a hero, look again: You have diminished yourself in some way.

19. Everyone lies, cheats, pretends (yes, you too, and most certainly I, myself).

20. All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.

21. All of you is worth something, if you will only own it.

22. Progress is an illusion.

23. Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.

24. Yet, it is necessary to keep on struggling toward solution.

25. Childhood is a nightmare.

26. But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-because-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you grownup.

27. Each of us is ultimately alone.

28. The most important things, each man must keep to himself.

29. Love is not enough, but it sure helps.

30. We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that’s all there is.

31. How strange that so often it all seems worth it.

32. We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power and partial knowledge.

33. All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.

34. Yet we are responsible for everything we do.

35. No excuses will be accepted.

36. You can run, but you can’t hide.

37. It is most important to run out of scapegoats.

38. We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.

39. The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.

40. All of the significant battles are waged within the self.

41. You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.

42. What do you know … for sure … anyway?

43. Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and …

(Here’s what “Eschatological” means: of or relating to or dealing with or regarding the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world. There are also Christian religious meanings relating to the end of days.)

This list was given to me typed several years ago. Handwritten at the bottom was the name Sheldon Kopp. It turns out he was the author.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Random acts of kindness

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Some interesting quotations

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