by Eva Matsuzaki
It was a Thursday afternoon, about 3:30 pm. How did we pick such a busy time? We were short of some regular items and didn’t think about the hour. Oh, well. I fatigue quickly, am not good at standing and shopping for an hour, but the Costco carts are big and sturdy - a good place to lean and rest.
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When I needed a pause, I’d just stop. The cart blocked half of the aisle, but when I apologized to the passers-by, the answer was always, no problem, no worries. I picked up some nuts, some Little Big Bread while my daughter went to get zucchini and tomatoes.
Pause. Rest.
The box of our favourite tuna was jammed between other boxes. A man who saw my unsuccessful juggling pulled the tuna box out, handed it to me, and left with a smile. “Thank you,” I said.
Pause. Rest.
When we were standing at the check-out line, I happen to notice blood on my knuckles. Where did that come from? No idea.
Pause. Rest.
The woman in front of us noticed and quickly dug into her purse. She then apologized for taking so long to find her tissues. I wiped my knuckles, probably scraped from the edge of a box. “Thank you.” She said, “Take care. I hope it will be okay.” The young man packing our items into bags also said something nice.
During that hour there were at least ten people who were kind to me. I knew absolutely nothing about them. Did they have a religion? Did they have political views I didn’t agree with? Will they celebrate the holidays with family and a feast or be at home alone with a sandwich and a glass of beer? They knew absolutely nothing about me. And yet, they chose to be kind. While much of the world is full of cruelty these days, this hour at Costco showed me pure kindness.
We went shopping for things and came home with a bag of kindness. Reminds me of what the Dalai Lama said, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” Reminds me of Callanish.
Eva Matsuzaki is a past cancer patient, a past Callanish participant, a past retreat dishwasher, (so many pasts), a current board member, an occasional blog writer, a gratitude card writer, (and so many futures!).