Tuesday, August 09, 2005

There is no such thing as a stranger

I used to pass out random notes to strangers in Ottawa.

It started when I saw this gorgeous guy who looked like he just got dumped, or his dog died or his best friend just betrayed him. He and I were waiting for the same bus and in Ottawa noone lines up politely like they do here or in Vancouver. Everyone clusters at the stop and fights to get on. When it came down to the two of us, he looked at me, and motioned for me to get on in front. I was rather taken aback that this guy, who had spent the last 10 minutes close to tears, lost in his own sorrow, still had enough left for a kind gesture for someone else. He had a special kind of beauty in his face that was being marred by his sadness. So I wrote a little note to him telling him exactly that. I handed it to him two stops before I got off, so that he would have to time to read it and I could watch his reaction. Right before I got off, our eyes met and he beamed at me. All his sadness had melted away to reveal that beauty I knew he had.

That smile got me hooked.

Everytime I saw someone on the bus who looked like they needed a little cheering up, I would be there with a few written words. I started keeping copies of what I wrote as well. Sometimes I would have no paper on me, and would tear off a corner of the script I was working on at the time and there would be a word or a number printed on it. Once I tore a piece off from the last page and it said 'THE END'. If the piece of paper would have a number on it, I would incorporate the number into whatever I wrote.

I took great pride in what I did. I gave elderly woman notes describing their eternal beauty. I told crying 14 year olds that everything will be alright. Sometimes I would just write about the gorgeous sunset we had just passed on the bus and that I hoped they took in that beautiful sight as well.

I hope I made a little difference in these people's lives. I hope that they appreciated my little gestures as much as I did.

I pay attention to the little things in life and I know that I would adore it if a stranger gave me a note full of kind and loving words. After all, as I wrote in one note, "there is no such thing as a stranger in this world".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet story.

seventhsprite said...

That's me... sugar and spice and everything nice.