Copyright berkshireeagle
To the editor: At a time when the world is ensnared in turmoil, loss and divisiveness, I was deeply moved as I witnessed a selfless act of kindness that deserves mention. I was sitting at a window seat at Dottie’s, which continues to have one of the best chai lattes in the city. Dottie’s had a sandwich board out front that had blown down in the wind and was lying on the sidewalk. It had been there for about 15 minutes as people walked by. Along came a person who paused, looked at the board and proceeded to stand it up. They then noticed that the board had missing screws, causing it not to stand securely. The person came into Dottie’s and walked out with a screwdriver and began to work on the problem. At one point, they looked at their watch, turned and ran across the street to Carr Hardware. They came back with screws that, unfortunately, were the wrong size, but they were able to make them work. The new manager of Dottie’s, Loric Adandedjan, came out and spoke to this kind human, as did I. We met and shook hands. This person was on their lunch break from the hospital. The board stood firmly after a bit of tinkering. I was truly touched and grateful to have witnessed this act of selfless service. At a time when my hope for our world has been at an all-time low, this was a much-needed dose of inspiration and possibility. What effect would it have on the downward, divided, mean-spirited spiral that is occurring right now if we recognized our true connection to each other? What would happen if we stopped acting out the them and us, yours and mine mentality, and recognized and welcomed the opportunity to help each other out wherever we could? I do believe that the inner and outer peace we all seek might just be realized, one sandwich board at a time, one small act of kindness at a time. Cate Wolff, Pittsfield
