Her gratitude significantly outweighed the gesture. I had just helped an elderly woman open a locked door to the church on the corner.
I identify more as Hobbit than human, and she looked half my height as she shuffled her walker along the sidewalk, moving toward me.
She used the walker to move, but its limbs also held various plastic bags filled with what I assume were necessities for the day. When I saw her turn the walker in the direction of the church’s side door, I reached to open the door only to discover it was locked. She had keys and enthusiastically welcomed my help turning the key while pulling the heavy door.
Her gratitude far outweighed the small act. She expressed the delight of a kid on Christmas morning. I lost count of how many times she thanked me. I felt slightly sad that the small act might have been an exception in her day.
The transaction lasted less than five minutes, yet her thankfulness bathed me the rest of the day. Her sunshine beams of gratitude warmed me to the core. I felt valuable, important, and needed. As I walked away, I realized how much she had given me. Before that moment, I was lost in a tangle of distracted thoughts, including whether or not I had added enough value during a client interaction. After meeting her, nothing in that brain tangle mattered AT ALL.
I’ve heard it said that it is better to give than to receive. I always put a moral framework on that, an implied “should” to the giving.
With this woman, it struck me hard to grasp that I benefit far more as the giver than the receiver.
So, thank you to the woman whose name I don’t know who gave me the priceless gift of profound mattering. I wish you back one thousandfold what you gave to me.
