You Can be Cautious and Still be Kind

In a recent article I mentioned my grandparents living in a small town called Shenandoah Junction, in a house near the railroad tracks. I was there with them most of the time. Often when the train stopped my cousins, who lived next door, and I would see rugged looking men come out some of the cars. As children, we called them hobos, because they were rather rugged looking and sometimes wore tattered and torn clothes.

As I got older, I looked at it through more mature eyes. It was then that I began to realize they were men who had fallen on hard times. Perhaps some were just trying to hitch a ride somewhere to find a new life with purpose, a fresh start. My prayers are that they found just that.  

I always imagined them to be hungry so I asked my grandmother one day if my cousins and I were allowed to give them food. She shook her head in a negative manner initially. After she saw the disappointment on my face, she came up with an alternative plan. "You can leave food in bags or boxes down by the track so they can so it when the train stops, but you cannot go near those men!" She was so adamant about it and we knew we must obey her. However, the boxes and bags were good enough for my cousins and me.

We made sandwiches, peanut butter crackers or sometimes got something from our huge garden and drew a jug of cold water from our well. We left it in our designated place and sat on the porch or by the well and watched for a train to come along. It was always so exciting to watch the men jump off the train to see what we had left for them. When there was no one actually riding we were left disappointed, but looked forward to the next day.

My grandfather was very cautious and reminded us often that we were never to go near the trains. What I learned from this experience is that kindness costs you absolutely nothing. It can be extended towards someone you do not even know or fully trust. My grandparents were not about to take any chances of having us around those strange men, but they would allow us to extend kindness to them none-the-less.

I had no clue as a child the impact that our small gesture may have had on those men just to know that someone was thinking of them and cared. They may have truly not known where their next meal was coming from or when they would get something to drink again. However, we were able to provide to them whatever we had.

When I look at our lives now, I realize that my cousins and I still have that giving spirit. We have never changed in that aspect and we never will. We are all involved in organizations and activities that lend a hand to the less fortunate. Could it all have started from our experiences by those train tracks? I am willing to bet that is exactly where it started and we have our grandparents to thank for it. They came up with a way to protect us, while allowing us to be a blessing. They were cautious while teaching us to be kind.

No matter where you are in life, your past and those in it helped to define you, whether it be something positive that gave you insight and taught you life lessons, or something that did not go quite so well. Although you no longer dwell there, your past is a part of the foundation that allowed you to build the framework and subsequently apply the roof to the life you have chosen for yourself. Hopefully, a part of your dwelling includes being kind to others and understanding that we all struggle sometime. From a child throughout adulthood there will be an abundance of opportunities to help another. I thank God or grandparents who knew the true value of it and passed it on to us.