Another Random Act of Kindness

I am going to make this legitimately brief just in my own response to the post I had written yesterday about compassion and how some people claiming to be “compassionate” seem only to be making the proclamation to stroke their own egos. What I wanted to say here is that THERE ARE other people who are like me in that they want to GIVE to others what they can when they can. Again, aside from those who just like the pretty way “I’m a compassionate person” sounds when it is said, I fully realize compassion can be expressed in a wide variety of ways, and the way I personally envision compassion isn’t necessarily the “one RIGHT” way – I am just trying to say that there are ACTS of compassion and then there are people who, again, like to make themselves FEEL like they are somehow compassionate and empathetic to the struggles of others when they really do nothing to validate their words.

At any rate, I do not know if I have talked about the Cupcake Girl I happened to meet one day down at Vegan Treats. To make a long story short, apparently she goes into the store and buys literally DOZENS of these cupcakes (FYI, these are $7.95 a piece and up!) and gives them out to random others who look like they are in in need, either spiritually or financially / physically. I was the very happy recipient of one of these cupcakes once – and I know it not only made my day because I had WANTED THE CUPCAKE BUT DIDN’T REALLY HAVE THE $$ TO BUY IT BUT BECAUSE NOT ONLY DID THE CUPCAKE ITSELF MAKE ME SMILE BUT BECAUSE HER RANDOM CHARITY / KINDNESS MADE ME SMILE and THIS “RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS” IS SOMETHING I WILL NEVER FORGET.

That is the kind of thing I am talking about. This woman had the $$ to spare for whatever reason, and she took it upon herself to make others in some kind of need happy by giving them expensive cupcakes. No matter what the gesture, it is THE GESTURE that means EVERYTHING. And I guess that is really what I was ultimately try to get at in my post about “compassion” (the post before the last post!) – that whatever YOU have to share, SHARE IT. Do not rub your chain of FORTUNATE EVENTS in the face of someone who has lived through a chain of terribly UNFORTUNATE EVENTS; i.e., if you can brag that you buy yourself a $300+ bottle of perfume every month and “because you worked hard,” I can GUARANTEE I have hustled harder if only for my life and it does not make me feel good to hear that you have that kind of money to throw around while I worry every day of my life how I am going to cover $10.000 of drugs that KEEP ME ALIVE in the very near future. It is like … if you are going to brag that you can buy yourself that kind of item every month and you are going to do so to someone who has been through “it” like I have, buy that person a bottle of perfume instead of buying it for yourself that month? Like … I hope what I’m saying is coming across correctly. I do not mean to imply that everything is material and that I am upset because I am not receiving this and that or others are not receiving this or that – it is just ultimately an inner “INTENTION” issue. And again, I realize fully I can get myself into a lot of trouble here because we can NEVER know the intentions of others – but we can sort of guess at them when said others like to bask in the “glory” of statements of their own “success” without sharing any of that “success” with others … and while simultaneously claiming to be either compassionate or charitable. It is just too much for me.

AT ANY RATE! I hope that clarified aforementioned post a little bit – I realize I did cause some confusion about things for certain others, so I apologize for that! I am not implying I personally need anything whatsoever – just that I have been dealing with someone claiming to be “very compassionate” and then bragging about these extravagant purchase while knowing my incredibly painful history and inability to be there WHEN I WOULD “BE THERE” IFF I did not have the HLA-B51 allele or IFF I didn’t have strep time and again as a child or IFF any number of events that caused my 20s to be more or less a decade of “lack.”

I just wanted to clarify things here. If you would like to read my post for today (I might write another later on!), I highly suggest you go back and ready my Sunday post about the “Spoon Theory.” Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and I hope you are having a happy and healthy day wherever you are in the world!

❤ Always, Beth

*P.S. I guess the “disparity” between ACTING IN A COMPASSIONATE MANNER and simply ADMITTING ONE’S COMPASSION is like the difference between action and inaction I have discussed here time and again. It is like just saying one is “compassionate” is that state of “inaction;” the “default state of failure,” the “0;” and where DOING SOMETHING, SHOWING COMPASSION to another in a REAL WAY (even if it is just listening or just being there depending on the situation!) is ACTION, IT IS FORWARD MOVEMENT, IT IS THE 1, IT IS THE ACTION OF DOING SOMETHING. There IS a difference between doing compassionate things and just saying you are compassionate and I think that really is the “difference.”*