Ramblings from Apalapachia...

#also take a deep breath and relax your shoulders while you exhale#and unclench your jaw#drink some water#you've got this#i believe in you (via @wilwheaton)

STORY TIME:

I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car (OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!), she piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean (“Wooooosh” she says, making a wave gesture with her hand)

Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.

Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.

He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, bodily takes them out of her hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with a intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says “you need chocolate.” She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.

He keeps asking her “why are you doing this?” She responds “Do you like Harry Potter?“ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.

Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:

“It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.”

The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: “My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.”

I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t know what. Then she turns to me and says: I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.“ And leaves.

And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today.

Spread joy. (SOURCE)

#this is the kind of story that ends with the kid winning the Tour de France in 15 year or so (via iwillnotdieamonster)

Some of y’all act like basic manners, general human decency, and kindness to others is SO MUCH emotional labor. I don’t like that shit.

Someone once said to me, “I hope the pain eases soon.” It struck me as the purest blessing that had ever been offered over my head - I hope the pain eases soon. It’s so gentle, so kind, so hopeful. So to everyone who’s hurting: I see how hard you’re trying, and I hope your pain will ease soon.

Source

© VALERIO VINCENZO Website | Facebook | Twitter

I am American and I have never seen photos like this. I had no idea there are borders like this. Even though I LOVE the idea of open borders, I am staring at these pictures like “wait…people can just…walk across some stones or grass and BE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY??? and nobody stops them?? how does that WORK?!” So you can tell that my country’s propaganda has gotten to me by convincing me that this CAN’T work even though…it…obviously can. These pics just seem unreal to me. I’ve been taught my whole life that this can’t exist. In 27 years no one has ever sat me down and gone, look, here’s how it is elsewhere. It isn’t impossible at all.

I want to add something, but I’d just be restating what they said. I.. didn’t know peace and kindness like this was possible.

if someone makes you happy, make them happier

This mindset will make you the kindest you can be

“You’ve made me the happiest I could be.”

“Is that a fucking challenge?”

I love you Keanu.

I cannot express this enough, you have NO IDEA what other people carry with them EVERY DAY. You have NO IDEA what someone’s life is like. Don’t create more pain & stress to others. BE KIND. BE GENUINE. Stop being so mean to people to fulfil whatever it is you don’t like about you.

Don’t read the comments on this article. The kid did it because he was learning about how teenage girls suffer from depression more than any other age group, and didn’t want any girls going home feeling sad on Valentine’s Day. Ofc half the comments are like “what an EPIC playa, bet he got some action after that hahaha” or “why do these special snowflakes need a handout like this” or “what kind of Richie Rich kid” (chocolate company donated the boxes after learning why he wanted so much) Like… why is humanity like this

THIS BURNS MY BACON, LET ME SHARE WHY. 

At the school where I work, we had a similar lovely Valentine’s moment: 

One of our seniors bought hundreds of roses on Valentine’s Day. Every girl in every grade got one; there were enough left over for staff and extras for others who might want one. This is our library bouquet. 

One year ago, our school lost a student to suicide. As Valentine’s Day was approaching, this sad anniversary was all our student body was talking about and remembering. This senior student decided to try to lift us up from that narrative, and literally fill the halls with flowers. The surprise was carried out flawlessly – even his own sister didn’t know what he was about to do. 

I have rarely seen a happier school holiday. 

I’ve seen EXACTLY those comments on social media about what happened with us, and about similar gestures from high school students. Lots of “spoiled kids with money”, lots of “this is just to get laid”. 

I don’t think this diminishes my senior student or his gesture at all, but it diminishes us when good things happen and we turn around and reduce these moments to their most cynical interpretation. And that’s not even touching on what it says when people feel the need to belittle younger people for trying to do good; the kids can’t catch a break from some people.

Can’t we take sweet things at face value the way we do all the darkness out there lately? 

Don’t forget the Parkland, FL school massacre was on Valentine’s Day…

women praise a boy for getting it right, and instead of jumping to say, “I’m gonna raise my son like that, or he must have a great dad. “ Men will drag these kids, projecting their ulterior motives on to them. But you don’t need a razor commercial telling you to do better right?

This kid is an absolute angel and a sweetheart and I genuinely pray that grown ass men like the ones in the comments won’t bully or break him down into becoming a monster like they are.

SO DOPE

Super dope ! 🙌🏾

Crazy thing is Black ppl, we always lit like this…..yall just cant see past our skin

AWWWWWWW!!!!!!

i live for white people accidentally inviting black people to shit and black people making it 10x better. 

I love seeing these things, don’t you

make me choose: greensarrow asked: Harley Quinn or Diana Prince