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Be kind


Today I got to be a part of showing kids at an elementary school how to throw a lifeline when you are trying to save someone at sea. Later it triggered the thought about saving someones life, and how even the smallest of gestures can make the biggest of difference.

The day before that moment that changed my life for the better, I had met a few fellow camp leaders in a park. We stayed and talked and when it was time to leave we had to clime over a small fence, the two guys that were walking towards the same direction from the park asked me if I needed any help in getting over that fence.


[ And they did not  know about my relationship or that just about a week before I had fallen through my family friends old dock right in front of my boyfriend so badly that the bruises on my thigh would still show months later, he had helped me with icebags as my mom told him too but right after that he sat at the only chair on the cliff playing games on his mobile phone while I got to sit on the ground, I had grown into a habit of not asking anymore. ]

I still remember that feeling of being asked, It is difficult to explain, but it is that getting noticed part, that someone saw me and even asked if they could help me. It was not the  being bruised part, I could have easily made it over that fence on my own,(and I'm being serious here, it was a very low fence... but thanks guys anyway !). The point is, physical bruise or not, the feelings in that situation and the reaction would still have been the same. I remember my heart pounding, and I could feel my eyes fill up with tears, I realized that I had not been asked that in a long time and that there is kindness out there. 

I like to think that this small gesture is one of the things that saved my life and it has even given me an valuable experience, for both my own everyday life and when working as a social caregiver. Small things matter, they might even matter the most ! We should try to remember to ask each-other more often the question " Are you okey ? " but if it feels too straight forward we could also see if we could help that other person with something else. Even a smile to a stranger could do more than you think.

  

Be kind.

You might unknowingly throw a lifeline 

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