Finding Kindness and Generosity in the True America

I am so very fortunate - I get to travel all over the world to places both epic and quaint. This Labor Day weekend, I went to the little-known Swan's Island in Maine for a little rest and rejuvenation. It's a lovely quiet place with little connectivity, lots of lobstering, and gorgeous maritime scenery.

When the ferry pulled away very early yesterday morning, my heart sank just a bit. It's not that I live an impersonal urban life. Many of my neighbors are friends. I know the woman at the cleaners by name and all the tellers at the bank down the street call me Lori. It's just that most everyone I encountered there was kind, helpful, and friendly in ways both big and small.

There was the woman we met on the boat who offered to open the lighthouse for us so we could see the museum. A lady who had just put her car in front of the line on the very in-demand ferry asked me if she could give me a lift somewhere and chance missing her opportunity to go to the mainland that day. The owner of our bed and breakfast hauled out a propane tank and a huge pot so we could cook our seafood for dinner and ran her car to the dock so we wouldn't miss our ride back to Acadia.

Everyone on the island waves to everyone else when you drive by and offers to lend a hand. It's a true hardworking rural American community that takes the time to be helpful no matter what they're doing. In this time of divisive leadership and an unfortunately us versus them reality, it was lovely to be reminded of a gentler place where who you vote for matters less than who you really are.

So maybe, just for today, let's try to let go of labels and judgement and smile at a stranger or help someone in need. I'm pretty sure, you'll feel better for it.