Life, actually…
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A DOZEN SWEETENED MOMENTS
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This morning is a morning of waiting.
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The cube-shaped room in which I wait is filled with wobbly tables, preacher-hardened chairs, a walled ever-blaring television set, a picture window overlooking a herd of automotive vehicles that seem to be dreading fates tiny and large.
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The cube room also sports a coffee maker ledge, real and artificial sweeteners, plastic stirrers, Styrofoam containers, textured paper napkins, a very large vending machine filled with all the things nobody should ever eat, all the things everybody eats anyhow.
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Oh, did I mention that the cube room is also peopled with people?
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I sit facing away from the television overlord. I can’t help but watch the waiting people, much more interesting and engaging than streamed ads and shouting interviewers.
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A slow-moving man and woman enter and search for suitable seating, their politeness and manners boldly contrasting with others in the room who are attention-locked by oblong plastic-and-metal-palmed devices.
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The device people glance blankly at me, quickly resume their internal journeys. The slow-moving couple settles in, each scanning the room for signs of life.
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An employee enters and heads for the coffee maker and says to all of us, “Anybody want a cup of coffee?” as in, “I’m willing to prepare a cup for you before I pour my own.”
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“Uh, I think that sounds good,” the woman says, a gentle smile and elegant Southern accent accompanying her voice. Her response to the question is not automatic and obligatory, but carefully considered, weighed and uttered.
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I feel comforted, hearing and seeing what we of old might call well-mannered graciousness.
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“There’s sugar and cream,” the employee notes.
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We all hear the gurgling, inhale the soothing fragrance of warming brew. And, despite aggressive messages issuing from the screen, despite impending verdicts that will eventually enter through the door, despite the dismissive attentions of lock stepped non-engagers, we share soft moments of pleasured sipping.
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There must be fifty ways to view moments like this, most of them silent and barely noticed. But these are the moments I recall so vividly, later in the day.
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This Deep South village contains so much good will, if only I take the time to cherish it.
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I imagine that there are thousands of villages like this throughout the world, where other people recognize each other and for a brief span ignore the irrepressible need for conflict that jumps at us now and then.
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I hope I will experience a dozen moments of kindness today. I hope you will, too
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© Jim Reed 2022 A.D.
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