Brotherly Love Came in the Form of an Umbrella

We in Minnesota Freemasonry have been talking about our Civility Project lately which I think is important.  I want to move this discussion up a notch and talk about one of our tenets of Brotherly Love and maybe get you thinking of what you can do.

  This Autumn on a Sunday afternoon I was walking in downtown Edinburgh Scotland and it was raining very hard.  The sidewalks were bustling with Shoppers carrying bags and families with kids.  You could pick me out of the crowd easily enough for I was the guy under the big American golf umbrella. The street traffic there was heavy with double decker buses, delivery trucks and cars. For survival the pedestrians cross at the intersections with the traffic lights. (unlike back home)
While waiting for the light to change I noticed a woman standing near me in the pouring rain carrying two heavy bags filled with groceries. I moved a foot closer to her and extended my arm to cover her with my umbrella. she set down her two bags and wiped the rain from her face and looked at me, smiled and said thank you.
A block latter at another pedestrian crossing I stood next to a woman who had her adult son by the hand waiting for the light to change. I performed my simple task again. The women’s son looked up at me and in his own special way said thank you.
Just by extending my arm and causing the rain to cease for just a few moments provided a human touch of warmth in the cold autumn rain.
I was walking back to my hotel from the Grand Lodge of Scotland when this all took place. I was a long way from my home and my Lodge in Minnesota. But that doesn't matter does it? For the world is my Lodge. As Freemasons we are to practice our principal tenets of: Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth in our daily lives. These words said in Lodge must become our actions.

A simple act of kindness can create a moment of connection with another human in a way that we cannot always understand. That act of kindness signals that someone cares about them and their plight or situation.  For a moment their world has changed for the better. Even more significant, you, as the Good Samaritan, may experience a sense of happiness or pride knowing that you may have made a meaningful impact in someone’s life that day.  This may result in more acts of kindness, as kindness can be contagious.

We humans have become so self-absorbed and connected to our cell phones there are days we don’t connect to the world around us.  You may need to look up from your small screen, to see and connect to the world around you to observe that someone may need a helping hand or a kind word.  Then you need to act, however small that may be.  

An act of kindness takes a small effort on our part, yet it pays a huge dividend in our lives and in the lives of the people we touch.  I hope you will consider what simple things that you can do in your daily life to bring relief or kindhearted act or words of encouragement to our fellow man.

“How do we change the world? One random act of kindness at a time”

Morgan Freeman