is ever wasted."
– Aesop
Maybe it’s an illustration of how foreign the concept of kindness to strangers is to me that I saw the drinks resting on top of a garbage can and thought, “Why is this fool throwing away perfectly good Gatorade?”
I quickly realized my mistake – I may not be the coldest Fresca in the fridge, but I’m not a complete dummy – and spent a good portion of the rest of my daily five-mile hike pondering this act of thoughtfulness.
I contemplated the daily grind of those hard-working sanitation laborers – the monotony and drudgery and physical toil it must take – and how a simple gesture like that would surely be appreciated.
It’s nice to be thanked for a thankless job.
I’m hard at work on my own kindness project these days, trying to manage my diet and walk my way to a longer life filled with better health, but it wasn’t lost on me that caring and generosity can make someone else’s day brighter while at the same time enriching my own.
Kind of made me feel guilty about snatching the Gatorade… C’MON, I’M WORKING UP A THIRST OVER HERE.
Jack, I'm so glad to see that you're back. I have been checking your blog periodically, initially to see if you had returned to posting but after awhile just to check in on some folks on your blog role. I'd always admired your cleverness although I sometimes thought it interfered with the real purpose of Jack Sh*t, which was to report on your wellness (i.e. weight loss) journey and to encourage others in theirs. Maybe you've come to the realization you can do those things without the parodies. Congratulations on your recent turn around and good luck going forward. Eileen
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