[Charlotte Innes]

Agreed! A little break from all the hatred in the world. Lovely. Thanks, AZ. However, I am always touched and amazed at how much goodness there is out there. Over the years, people have helped me out in all kinds of situations--have really put themselves out--and I've seen this happen to others too. What's interesting to me is, why does this always feel surprising?! Well, perhaps because the hatred and violence seems so pervasive sometimes, it really gets one down.

I was also interested in Michael's question: how does one put this into poetry? I wonder... Straightforward narrative in a poem is refreshing too, but yes, there needs to be some new take on the matter.

Just out of curiosity I looked on the web and came up with this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye (below). Some might think it sappy, but she does make a point about kindness without being too gushy. Does anyone else know any kindness poems?

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

OK, so there you are!
Charlotte

[Michael Cantor]

Sorry to be a hard-ass, Charlotte, but that one sounds very sappy and very abstract to me. I think one of the reasons that AZ's narrative works is that it is so specific, so grounded in two individuals and a specific act of kindness.

[Charlotte Innes]

No problem, Michael. I take your point. And yes, the specific moment in AZ's narrative really makes it work. But this was the only poem I could find after a quick look--interesting, eh?

If you or anyone knows of any poem that would pass the Cantor test, I would love to read it!

Charlotte

[Kevin J MacLellan]

Michael,
I dunno either. But my guess is that it has everything to do with sincerity; the sincerity of his chosen diction is immediately apparent, mainly because it is so familiar. A poet would have to make the language choices equivalent ti that degree and kind of immediacy, authenticity.

I think, at bottom, this is what they mean by the old adage "write what you know."
All joking aside, you can't fake authenticity. Who would know how?
kjml

[Mary Meriam]

Read Rose Kelleher's poems for unsappy specific acts of kindness. Stay tuned for one of them in the December issue of Lavender Review.

Here's my review of Rose's Bundle O'Tinder.

PS: Great story, AZ.

[Skip Dewahl]

A one time act of kindness like that lasts as long as the shoes don't wear out. Rather than that, why don't people admit that they would never consider working beside the likes of such a lowlife. Not saying he is, just stating the obvious thoughts that must go through the heads of people who do the easy act of charity. Else why didn't he go further and invite the guy into his car for a vegan meal in an expensive restaurant, discuss Proust, and find him a position of employment where he works. I'm no better than the blond guy either, by the way, and probably less giving, but I don't delude myself. Listen, I know we'll probably never be able to salvage more than half the lives of the homeless, seeing that many are mentally ill. Certainly the insane should be in institutions, but hey, that would be cruel and unusual, wouldn't it folks?
Just let them be themselves, no matter how self or outwardly destructive they are. The others we see are those that have given up on life, and the rest, slackers. I think at least the former have some shred of hope, but a pair of shoes ain't gonna do it. And no, the communist mantra of "Each to his ability, each to his need", ain't gonna do it. It doesn't work in Eratosphere, so why would it in the larger society. Gorbachev saw the failure of that belief over the years as he slowly realized that the manufacturing base of the Soviet Union was consistently fabricating inferior products which no one, not even his own citizens, wanted.

[John Whitworth]

Of course a pair of shoes ain't going to do it, Skip. When Saint Martin gave half of his cloak to a beggar he left the man still a beggar. That is the Human Condition eh? What you seem to be saying is that you should never be kind to anyone because your act of kindness won't sort out their life. I suggest you follow the Reverend Sidney Smith. 'Trust in God and take short views.'

I think you are pissed off because a lot of lefty people like this. But consider. Such liking attacks their leftihood. A true leftie, like George Bernard Shaw, a notorious tightwad, leaves all charity to the state.

A man asked me for money in the street. I asked him what he would do with it. 'I won't lie to you, sir. I shall go to that pub over there and drink to you with it.'

I gave him the money. Wouldn't you?

[Don Jones]

A one time act of kindness like that lasts as long as the shoes don't wear out.

Not so. An act of kindness lasts a lifetime in the mind. While you presume to know the inside of people’s minds (read below) I am certain of one thing: the homeless man with new shoes will never forget this act of kindness for as long as he lives. Neither will the do-gooder blond guy. Memory is as important, more important really, than material possession.

As an atheist and materialist I might agree with your opening conclusion, but read or re-read the very end of The Brothers Karamasov where Alyosha, in his “Speech by the Stone,” urges the wayward schoolboys to remember the act of kindness they have demonstrated by visiting the grave of their dead friend. Acts of kindness outlive their practical effects because it is the attention directed by love toward another that lives on via the memory. In fact, the act of kindness at the end of Dostoevsky’s masterpiece has no material effect at all. The friend is dead!

Rather than that, why don't people admit that they would never consider working beside the likes of such a lowlife.

Huh? Presumably, since you seem to know this person, the poor man is unfit for employment so, as your logic seems to imply, we wouldn’t want someone like that in the office or factory or phrontisterion.

Not saying he is [a lowlife], just stating the obvious thoughts that must go through the heads of people who do the easy act of charity.

You are saying he’s a lowlife. Your just wrote it above.

You must be clairvoyant to know and state what obviously goes on in the head of the do-gooder blond guy. But by observing behavior we can glean to a certain reliable extent the contents of a human brain. That said, I do know that a lowlife to you was a human being to the do-gooder. Easy act of charity? If so, then remove thy shoes on the street and give them away.

Else why didn't he go further and invite the guy into his car for a vegan meal in an expensive restaurant, discuss Proust, and find him a position of employment where he works.

A deeply cynical remark. As if the act of kindness on the part of the blond guy was really not at all useful. Yet, as stated above, practicality in an act of kindness is not the point, really.

Why bother to relieve suffering, even a little bit, if we can’t address the entire situation that brought it about? Both the political left and right have failed to heal the world of poverty and destitution but that shouldn’t preclude an act of kindness. Sometimes that’s all we got to give.

I'm no better than the blond guy either, by the way, and probably less giving, but I don't delude myself.

From what I’ve read the blond guy is better than you. Or maybe you’re having a bad day.

Listen, I know we'll probably never be able to salvage more than half the lives of the homeless, seeing that many are mentally ill. Certainly the insane should be in institutions, but hey, that would be cruel and unusual, wouldn't it folks?

If hugging someone who has been kind to you is a sign of insanity then I’m also crazy.

Just let them be themselves, no matter how self or outwardly destructive they are.

The do-gooder bond guy did let the poor man be himself. He wasn’t trying to change him. He expressed an act of love towards him.

The others we see are those that have given up on life, and the rest, slackers. I think at least the former have some shred of hope, but a pair of shoes ain't gonna do it.

We never really know in a catch-all understanding what may lead people to be homeless. There but by the grace of chance and choice go you, or I.

And no, the communist mantra of "Each to his ability, each to his need", ain't gonna do it. It doesn't work in Eratosphere, so why would it in the larger society.

I don’t know what this means. Eratosphere is certainly a product of brute capitalism for positive ends. Alex Pepple, whatever his politics which I don’t presume to know, is an entrepreneurial dude who set this whole thing up. By the way, have you given some money to Eratosphere to keep things running? We are all investors in this website so we should all voluntarily pay up – whether $5,000 or $5. It’s all good money after good.

Gorbachev saw the failure of that belief over the years as he slowly realized that the manufacturing base of the Soviet Union was consistently fabricating inferior products which no one, not even his own citizens, wanted.

This wins the award for greatest non-sequitur to date.

[Shaun J. Russell]

Originally Posted by Skip Dewahl

A one time act of kindness like that lasts as long as the shoes don't wear out. Rather than that, why don't people admit that they would never consider working beside the likes of such a lowlife. Not saying he is, just stating the obvious thoughts that must go through the heads of people who do the easy act of charity.

You completely miss the point. A random act of kindness goes beyond any ideological leaning, and cuts to the core of humanity. The impulse is deeper than political or religious trappings, which is what makes it all the more precious and sincere. In many, if not most people, there is a deep-rooted desire to help one's fellow man. The problem is that as we grow up, we see very few people doing it first hand, and grow to believe that pure, unadulterated kindness is naive, or a form of weakness. The inner instinct remains, however.

It's downright tragic that many people equate the "easy act of charity" with socialism, or assume that such an act is borne of misplaced ulterior motives. This instance that AZ relates appears to have been sincere: it's not like the guy was trying to impress some girl, or showing off for some campaign camera. It was simply a pure, uncalculated, unquantified moment. Something that folks like Skip will likely never experience.

[W.F. Lantry]

As John points out, there was a similar story on Canadian radio a few nights ago. In this town, we get "As it Happens" every night at 11 on WAMU. I heard it Wednesday evening, and it went up on the web on Thursday. You can listen to it here:

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/featur...innipeg-shoes/

Thanks,

Bill