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Not too long ago I learned of the legend of the Lamed-Vov. The lamedvovnik are 36 righteous people in the world whose job it is to carry the weight of human suffering. No one knows who they are, including the lamedvovnik themselves. Not knowing makes it important for all of us to behave as if WE might be one of the lamedvovnik AND to treat others as if they might be. Why? Because if there are less than 36 lamedvovnik, the world will collapse.

Taking this story to heart creates a new awareness for me. I have a significant responsibility, as do we all, to treat people with compassion, understanding and empathy. What if I am one of the lamedvovnik? What if the bus driver, the baker, or the old man slowly crossing the street in front of me is a member? Thinking this way, it is important I do my part to behave thoughtfully and with kindness, which begins with my smallest actions. When I behave with kindness, I plant positive seeds.

The picture I’m using here is of Melinda’s grandfather, Les Stangl. It was taken a year or two before he died, probably in 2004 or 2005.

Today’s Question: Who did you treat with kindness today?

I’ve been using eBay since 1997, most recently to collect DVDs released as part of the Spiritual Cinema Circle. Not too long ago, a woman posted several that I was missing, all at reasonable “Buy it Now” prices. I snatched them up, one by one, a total of 9 individual purchases, each with its own shipping price. Within a couple of hours I had been refunded $10 by the seller who, while under no obligation to do this, recognized it was silly for me to pay individual shipping costs when the disks could be packaged and sent together. I wrote her a note of appreciation and mentioned the other DVDs I was missing. This was her response to me:

“Hi Andy…I believe deeply that what is given with clear intention and a grateful heart will return a thousand-fold. Spiritual Cinema Circle 2009 Volume 11 featuring “The Shift” with Wayne Dyer will be mailed to you tomorrow via First Class Mail and you should have it in days as my gift to you. Be blessed and know that your kindness created this reality of receiving a gift. And I am enriched by the opportunity of receiving your payment and then giving a gift to you as well.”

Wow!

Today’s photo is an old one. That’s Ella, probably 10 years ago, at our home computer at the time, a Mac Cube.

Today’s Question: What kind thing has a stranger done for you?

This photo is of one of many “kindness cards” made by a group of PSCS students back in December. The students were part of an activity I was facilitating and wanted to complete a no-cost act of kindness. They decided to make these cards and place them randomly in library books in a nearby public library. This particular one struck me as apt today. It matches this message I received this afternoon from Johnny’s mom, written soon after he came out of brain surgery:

It’s all good! Yay! Johnny is safe and sound. He will be in the hospital for a few days observation to make sure there aren’t any blood clots, and then a month of recuperation and he is good to dance.”

Johnny is a dancer, you see.

Note the message on the card. It doesn’t just say have a good day. It says have a really good day.

Today’s Question: What makes for a REALLY good day?

Without Johnny Spangler there would likely be no kindness classes.

Many, many years ago, when Johnny was a pre-teen student of mine at a local elementary school, he lamented the fact that most of what he heard on the news was bad or negative news. He vowed to change that and started the Good News Newspaper. A year later he was one of the founding students at PSCS and in response to his continued interest in hearing about positive things, the first kindness class was born.

I just learned tonight that Johnny has a small brain tumor and is being operated on tomorrow morning. His prognosis is excellent, the location of the tumor being accessible and not appearing to invoke any long-term damage. This is good news.

In fact, given the nausea, dizziness and headaches Johnny has been experiencing, he took the diagnosis of a brain tumor as good news. “Now we know what to do,” his mother told me he said.

I’m counting on more good news coming tomorrow.

By the way, today’s photo is from 1995 and was taken on the last day of the first year of PSCS. Johnny is third from the left in the multi-colored shirt.

Today’s “Question:” Share some good news with us.

What’s better? To give or to receive? Since both are necessary for either to happen, in some ways they are the same thing, right, just like a coin has two sides? Aren’t quite sure what I mean? Take a look at this video and I bet you’ll come away thinking that Lucas received quite a bit in his giving.

In the spirit of this blog’s history I’m including this photo from Ella’s birthday two weeks ago. The Bertails in Nantes sent her a little gift. I caught Ella just after she had opened the card Christine had made her. Click on it to enlarge it and get a better view.

Today’s Question: When have you given something and in the process gotten something in return?

(Welcome to the new “French Sabbatical Blog.” I’ve made a lot of changes, including writing four new “pages,” each of which you can read by clicking on “About,” “French Sabbatical,” “A Story,” and “Meet Andy” above. While I’ll continue to post each day here, it’s not my intention to have every posting be about something my family has done that day. For instance, today I want to tell you about Melinda’s and my “first date.”)

“This is not a date!”

So said Melinda to me as we walked from the Seattle Center to my car. We were heading to Longacres, the racetrack in Seattle, having just seen a concert. Melinda knew I had connections at the track that would allow easy access to the horses. Since she’d taken up riding, she was interested in seeing some thoroughbreds in training. But she wanted to make it clear to me that going to look at horses did not indicate romantic interest on her part. “This is not a date,” she said. “Um, okay,” was my eloquent response.

Of course we were married less than four months later, what happens to be exactly 21 years and 1 day ago. Sometimes I ask Melinda if we’ve had a date yet.

Today’s Question: What constitutes a “date?”

Now our marriage can legally drink.

For some reason when I just THINK about that statement it sounds like it would be a funny thing to say out loud. But when I do say it out loud it doesn’t seem to work like I think it should. Hmmm…

Anyway, yes, it’s true. Melinda and I got married 21 years ago today, almost to the minute, in fact (I’m writing just before 4pm and the judge made the marriage official at about 4:30pm). How about that!

I took today’s picture a couple of weeks ago, having seen the artwork on the outside of a building in Seattle. I dedicate it to ma chérie, Melinda. 🙂 Later tonight we’ll be heading out for a “prix fixe” New Year’s Eve dinner at Carmelita, a popular vegetarian restaurant in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood, not too far from our house. As nice as it is, there is no way it can match last year’s New Year’s Eve dinner.

Say, consider this a heads up. Tomorrow I’ll be changing the theme and renaming this blog, perhaps even slightly changing how I use it. It’s all part of the relaunch of Melinda’s and my Kind Living project. Stay tuned!

For the first time since Chloe has been back, we all sat down to have dinner together, just the four of us. Certainly, it was nothing fancy, the last of the leftover ham, potatoes and green beans from Christmas Eve, but it was nice to all be sitting together. With the hustle-bustle of the holidays it’s been a challenge for us to have quiet time together.

That’s not to say it hasn’t happened. A couple of nights ago, in fact, Chloe and I had fun together playing a couple of games. I suggested that she should take one of them, Cranium Conga, back to school with her. It’s so silly it could be an ideal game for playing with college dorm friends.

Say, I spent some time today working on Melinda’s and my Kind Living project, an outgrowth of the kindness work I’ve done over the years. I’m planning on offering an updated version of my popular Practice of Kindness class in January. Comment here if you are interested in participating.