I read, over the weekend, an interesting piece and would like to share it with you:
During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. “Absolutely,” the professor said. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~Joann C. Jones
Surely, I thought, this would come under what we are hoping to achieve in Finchley – which is Community Spirit.
Community spirit isn’t just being a volunteer, it is saying a cheerful good morning to a neighbour. It’s pushing their mail all the way through the door when you know they are away. It’s getting some shopping for a sick neighbour. And, of course, it is knowing everyone’s names, even those who you may consider beneath you. Remember, the only person who you should look down upon is someone you are offering a helping hand up!
I looked on Google for some more sayings that fit this bill – but as an act of kindness, for those who consider this all poppy-cock – there are only additional sayings beyond this point and you can move on now. But others may like to read on.
The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. ~Charles Kuralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan Proverb
Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree. ~Marian Wright Edelman
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses. ~Chinese Proverb
There is no effect more disproportionate to its cause than the happiness bestowed by a small compliment. ~Robert Brault,
Be thoughtful of others and you will not be shy, for they are incompatible addictions. ~Robert Brault
The best way to knock the chip off your neighbour’s shoulder is to pat him on the back. ~Author Unknown
Because that’s what kindness is. It’s not doing something for someone else because they can’t, but because you can. ~Andrew Iskander
If thou art a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes deaf. ~Thomas Fuller
If we cannot be clever, we can always be kind. ~Alfred Fripp
One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him. ~Booker T. Washington
The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard
Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. ~Samuel Johnson
The more sympathy you give, the less you need. ~Malcolm S. Forbes
Always carry with you a little reasonable doubt, should you meet someone who needs to be found innocent. ~Robert Brault,
There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile. ~Attributed to both Zig Ziglar and Dr. Kenneth McFarland
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~James Matthew Barrie
Don’t cast a shadow on anyone unless you’re providing shade. ~Terri Guillemets
I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~William Penn
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. ~Benjamin Disraeli
Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim. ~William Feather
I soothe my conscience now with the thought that it is better for hard words to be on paper than that Mummy should carry them in her heart. ~Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
The Finchley Arrow 