My Passover Seder

We live in a small condo apartment downtown, not one that could accomodate a big family dinner for 22 people.  We decided the rent the party room for our Passover seder/family dinner.  To make it easier for me, I decided to cook some of the food and order the bulk of it from a kosher caterer.  I did not anticipate how challenging it would be to set up the room, get all my dishes, pots and pans and food there and then clean it up quickly for another rental the next day.

The staff in my condo building were very helpful, moving heavy furniture so that the tables and chairs could sit in the middle of the room, and moving it back again, allowing me to use the room over 3 days prior to the dinner to move all the dishes and cooked foods into the kitchen, and finally wishing me well as the hour approached. 

I know people have a job to do, but when each person does their job with kindness and consideration for the client, they spread joy and that joy is contagious.  It was a great seder!
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An unfortunate alligator affects the course of a holiday

The other evening, at a dinner party, I met a woman who just returned from Florida.  Her good friend is still there waiting for his car to be repaired.  They drove to Florida because this woman has fear of flying. As they were approaching their destination on a quiet two-land road, the driver was temporarily blinded by the brights of an approaching car and did not see an alligator that was crossing the road at the same time.  "It was like going over a big speed bump" she said, but the engine light came on and the car broke down a few miles after this encounter.  The Canadian insurance company was reluctant to fix the car.  After a week of back and forthing, and renting another car, the woman had to return to work.  Her friend drove her all the way home and then drove all the way back to Florida to pick up his "finally" repaired car.  I think this man deserves special recognition for kindness.  If I were goning design a medal, it would have to include the unfortuate alligator.

Helpful Ryerson students on a rainy day

A group of six older women decided to lunch together after a class at Open University.  They hurried through the halls, crowded with younger students to exit the building.  At the double doorway near the exit, a student on the other side opened the door to let the older women through first.  A few straglers in the group hurried toward the door.  The student kept the door open for them too as the other students piled up behind her, waiting patiently to enter the door.
They entered a popular restaurant near a university.  There were only a few open tables.  As they wandered from one to the other looking for a suitable spot, the largest table was taken by a group of male students.  When the women turned to take that particular table, the students gave it over with a smile and took another table. 

"It's my grey hair" one women said to me.  "People are nicer to you when you are older."

Just outside the restaurant, a young student dug into her bag looking for her transit card before she entered the subway.  Her change splattered on the rainy sidewalk.  Another young student paused and bent down to help pick up the change, passed it to her and then both went on their way.

I think that many students at Ryerson University practice kindness with others.  It could be part of the University culture, I hope.

Getting rescued at a car wash

It was a sunny winter day, a good time, I thought, to wash our car.  I drove into a self-service car wash and tried to get so close to the post where I had to enter my proof of payment that I did not realize that I overshot the slot and ended outside it.  I looked over my difficult situation in the big rear view mirror provided by the car wash.  Another driver pulled up.  She got out of her car and started shouting at me.  She was in a hurry and I was slowing her down.  "Move your car now" she demanded.  I knew I had to move the car but I was not sure how to do it. 

Parked nearby were two airport limosines.  The drivers were having a coffee.  One man, a turbaned Sikh gentleman,  put his coffee away and came over and offered to help me in a soft voice that I could hardly hear over the woman's continued shouting.  He even assisted me out of the car because there was a post next to my door.   He got into the driver's seat, and with quiet confidence, put the car in reverse and steered it up and over the track so that the car could fit in for a car wash.  I was so grateful.  He brushed away my thanks and simply returned to his limo and his coffee . 

Learning Aloha in Maui

We visited Maui on a winter holiday this year.  Maui is the next island to Hawaii (the big island) in that chain of volcanic islands in the mid Pacific region.  Of course, it was warm and beautiful as described.  Many of the people whom we met greeted us with "alohah", a Hawaiian-language expression which some people explained as a loving hello, a word of compassion, an expression of personal interest in the other. 

We were greeted with alohah by workers in the hotel, by staff in stores, by people in the streets.  You might be thinking that most people don't mean all the richness in the word any more than people want a true answer when they say "how are you?" in our culture.  Maybe.

Maui receives alot of tourists from the mainland USA and from western Canada.  Maybe, using aloha as a greeting to visitors is just another way to create a special tourist identity for the place.

There are no adverstising billboards in Maui or even big signs on box stores to attract customers.  It is considered too disturbing for people who deserve to see their environment as it is.  When plastic bags were picked up by the wind and found all over the island, the government forbade the use of them.  People volunteered to clean up these bags everywhere and beauty was restored.

When we drove slowly up an unfamiliar mountain with many switchbacks, with sky on one side and mountain on the other, no one in the line of cars behind us beeped for us to get moving.  They just waited for us to pull over when a siding appeared.

I came home refreshed in patience, wondering if I can also practice the aloha spirit here in Canada.

A helpful musician

My husband was showing an out of town friend the way to a local music story where the friend could buy strings for his guitar.  We live downtown and there is always a broad variety of people on Queen Street W near Steve's Music.  Some were amblers, some were shoppers, others were street people asking for money.  Our friends decided to buy two sets of strings at the music store.  On their way back home, my husband watched our friend, bend down to give a street person playing a guitar one set of strings.  Later, he explained that he noticed some of that person's strings were missing when he heard him play as they walked on their way to the store.  "It's his living", our friend said, "we should always help someone make a living". 

Surprises on the Jerusalem Tram

In September 2011, a new light rail vehicle line was innaugurated on the Jaffa Road in Jerusalem after many delays in the construction process.  For that first month, it was free to one and all.  We decided to board it near our hotel and travel to the end of the line in east Jerusalem.  As usual, no one queued for boarding public transit.  Those with the sharpest elbows got on the tram and found a seat first.  Then, to my great surprise, those of us who boarded last were evaluated for our seat worthiness by those seated.  Old people, pregnant women, mothers with small children, the disabled were all quickly offered the seats before the tram even started up again. It did not matter if you were obviously an Arab or a Jew or someone hard to place like a tourist, if you qualified, you were offered a seat.  The seats were offered by Arabs to Jews and by Jews to Arabs.  After the great push at the door, I was amazed.  At every stop thereafter, the same thing happened, sharp elbows boarded first, and seats were offered to the seat-worthy before the tram started again.  I love happy surprises.