11- IF ONLY WE ALL WERE CHILDISH

Lisa (00:04.285)
Hi everybody, my name is Lisa and welcome to Morning Cup of Kindness. I wanted to tell a story about my own daughter who just turned six on Monday. So it was the weekend before her birthday party and I took her with me to the superstore grocery store to pick up some drink boxes for her birthday party. We came out of the grocery store and I rarely take her, I just choose not to take her to shopping malls and grocery stores and things like that where I can avoid it.

We came out of the grocery store and unfortunately there was a man on the ground with a piece of cardboard asking for spare change. He wasn't looking super well. My best guess would be probably intoxicated on something. He was sort of nodding off. So we walked past this man.

A few steps after we'd walked past him, my daughter said to me, she said, Mom, what's wrong with that man? And I do try to explain to her that she is a privileged little girl and she's a lucky little girl and that some people's lives are harder. And I said, you know, he probably has a harder life than us. And I said, you know, he may not have a job. He may not have a lot of money. He may not have a lot of food. And you know, he's asking for change to try to make his day a little bit easier.

I unfortunately rarely carry change on me. And so we kept walking and we're walking towards the car. And so again, a few paces later, she said to me, mom, why do people walk past him like he's not there?

which is heartbreaking, but also incredible that this is what a five-year-old would notice. And I said to her, you know, that's not right, and that's not okay. And I said, we shouldn't do that. Like, we should acknowledge people. We should say hello to people. So we kept going, we got into our car, and she was dropping herself into her car seat. And I was putting my seatbelt on, and I looked in the rear view mirror.

Lisa (02:10.721)
and she was sitting in the car seat quietly with tears just streaming down her face. And anyone who knows my little girl will say that, you know, the first things I would say to describe her are she's feisty, she's independent, she's bold, she's fearless. And so for her to just sit there quietly like that with tears was really meaningful, was a big deal. And I said, I turned

And she said, seeing that man makes me really sad. So I said to her, you know, what would you like to do? And she said, well, there's nothing I can do. And I said, what do you mean? And she said, well, I don't have anything to give him.

And I said, well, what would you like to give him? And she said, I think he probably is hungry. So I said, well, would you like to go and we could go and buy him like a rotisserie chicken. And she said, well, maybe he doesn't eat chicken. I like, I think we should ask him. So we went back and I knelt down and she was squatting beside me and we introduced ourselves to this man whose name was Sheldon.

And I said to him, I said, my daughter was wondering if you were hungry and if we could maybe get you a chicken or something. And lo and behold, he looks at us and says, well, I don't eat meat. Good on my daughter. And I said, well, what would you like? And he said, well, you know, maybe some cereal or milk or yogurt or something like that. And my five year old piped up and said, what's your favorite flavor of yogurt? And he said, strawberry. And she said, so is mine.

So we went inside and we got him some food and we brought it out. We gave him the food. He said, thank you very much. And, you know, we wished him a good day and we left. And so we walked back to the car again. She was sort of quiet. She got in the car again, strapped herself in and she said, I'm proud of myself.

Lisa (04:19.161)
And it was just an interesting moment to be able to say to her how proud I was of her. And again, not even proud that she was able to give him food or that she gave him food, but proud that she noticed him, proud that she felt that in her heart and noticed it and acknowledged it and spoke to it and explored what to do with that. That was something kind in the world. And, you know, and I acknowledged her and told her I was proud of her.

This was, you know, I think before lunch that particular day and that night putting her to bed, you know, I always read her story and then I'll lay down in bed with her and we'll just chat about the day. So this was, you know, now many hours later and I was laying with her and again, you know, without bringing it up myself. She said, again, she said, I'm, I'm really proud that we helped that man today.

So anyways, I think that that's a lovely story. It warmed my heart and wanted to share that on Morning Cup of Kindness. And then, this is done in support of fundraiser. And so I wanted to do a shout out to Mike Lockman, who is based out of Airdrie in Alberta. And he's been on the Ashes to Awesome podcast and shared his story of recovery.

And now he runs a nonprofit organization in Airdrie called the Sober Friends Society. And in support of that society, he is currently on a walk that he's doing for the second time. So he is walking from Edmonton to Airdrie wearing a ball and chain. And he's fundraising for the Sober Friends Society as well as the Mood Disorder Society of Canada.

So myself and some colleagues and friends are going to be joining him for one day of walking tomorrow. So he's walking about 30k a day. So we're certainly not putting in the kilometers that he's doing on this full journey, but we are going to join him for one day. And we've each individually been doing our own fundraising on his behalf. So I just wanted to, you know, bring awareness to that and...

Lisa (06:37.029)
you know, we'll put the link to that and then if anybody feels inspired or interested in supporting that cause, he's trying to raise $10,000 and I think he's about 3000 away from his goal right now. So if anybody's able to contribute, it would be appreciated.