Posts tagged ‘#neighbors’

As #Coronovirus charges around the globe, so many stories emerge. The give-you-chills kind, where people are helping neighbors and strangers, alike, and the make-you-boil stories, like:

• The profiteering guy in the NY times today, who took a 1300 mile road trip to buy out all the hand sanitizer stock he could find, and then sold it on amazon at a 7000% markup, telling his story of woe- how he got suspended from selling on Amazon (good for Amazon). There were, sadly, a lot of these. Last week, I saw a 5-pack of 1 oz hand sanitizers selling on Amazon for $98-just shameful.
• The guy who took the last container of clorox wipes out of my daughter’s hands in the grocery store, and walked away.
• Videos of people fighting over toilet paper (what universe is this we’re living in?)
• Pictures of people buying what looks like a lifetime supply of toilet paper (why???)

But there are bright spots too- lots of them. Check out #thekindnesschallenge on facebook. At first I thought this was a trite group- people humble-bragging. And it is, a little. But during a frightening times- it’s hopeful and encouraging to see people making an effort to help each other. Here are a few I’ve seen lately on facebook & twitter:

• Gena Rositano, a woman who stopped an elderly gentleman, who was in tears in the grocery store, and helped him get his shopping done. 

• The person in the hospital who couldn’t afford the prescription, and the doctor filled it for him without a charge.
• Rebecca Mehra noticed an elderly couple sitting in their car outside the grocery store, and asked if they needed help. They were scared to go in. She bought their groceries and delivered them to the car. Her story has since gone viral, and was featured on CNN.

This gave me the idea to post on my community group on facebook offering to pick up food, prescriptions or other necessary items for anyone homebound/self isolating- and immediately got dozens of other volunteers to do the same.

These are the things that elevate us, lift our hearts, keep on going. There’s lots of scary, bad news out there. But there are bright spots too. Keep finding them. Be part of them. This is where a little humanity can go a long way.