A Glass Full of Water

Val and I were staying for the weekend with our daughter  Rebeccah  in the Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier. The local superette across the road had recently been ram raided. The owner was hit on his head with an iron bar and his forehead still bears the scars.  He  is  a kind, caring man who treats the public with smiles and witty conversation. His wife also works in the shop although mostly at different times of the day. A bit like a tag team really.  First thing on the Saturday morning I started walking over the road to buy a newspaper from them. As I approached, I noticed two men standing outside. Nothing unusual about that, but at that moment it just didn’t feel right. My sense of caution intensified. Walking up to the shop entrance, I could see the owners wife staring at me with terror-filled eyes. In that moment I had a choice. I could walk away or I could stay and somehow help her.  The two men had now gone inside. Time to approach them. They...

Val’s sister Verna shared this story with us recently. Verna was a resident of a rural service town called Pukekohe on the southern edge of the Auckland region. Verna and a few of her jogging/walking club friends were treating themselves after a brisk walk at a local cafe. They noted a customer complaining to a young wait staff member about the heating of their meal. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the customer kept on complaining and wouldn’t allow the staff member to speak to the situation. Now the poor staff member was being unfairly harangued. What was happening to her was awful and she was so upset. Verna said, “C’mon” to her friends. The three of them walked past the rude customer and around the counter to silently stand  beside the staff member, with arms linking. It would have been too easy to say something and possibly making the situation worse.                                   ...

Holding a Stop/Go road sign might look like an easy job…I’m sure it’s not. Wind, heat, freezing conditions and occasional motorist abuse plus the monotony of the job must be hard to deal with. While travelling south through Taranaki, Val and I noticed road works ahead of us. The Stop/Go sign woman signalled us to stop. We smiled at her and she smiled back. She had wet weather gear on but still looked freezing. We were in a warm car with radio music and no cares or worries. On signalling us to drive on (and noting that we had just passed through Mokau), Val and I looked at each other, smiled and a short distance ahead turned our car around. Back in Mokau we ordered a couple of coffees and some food treats from a local store and drove back to the road works. We stopped our car and gave her the coffee and food. She was very surprised, grateful and happy. Her work colleague further up the road got the same. Just imagine if he had missed out! POINTS to PONDER Opportunities to care are a...

  A few days ago we had a public holiday weekend in New Zealand known as King’s Birthday Weekend. For the past ten plus years on this weekend (previously known as Queen’s Birthday weekend) my brothers and sisters and their wives and husbands have travelled to Tutukaka, 30 kilometres north east of Whangārei to enjoy each others company and to celebrate one of my brother in law’s birthday. Congratulations Vern on your 70th this year. So many candles!                        On the Saturday morning, we were having a coffee together at the local Schnappa Rock restaurant and cafe. Val was sitting diagonally opposite me. During a lull in the conversation she said to me. “Look on the floor next to you.” To our surprise I picked up six $50 notes. My family looked even more surprised. I called a staff member over and handed the money to him. He said that it must have been left by a patron he knew from the night before and that he wo...

I have had the privilege of working in various education aid projects in Africa and India. Working with a team of kiwi teachers in challenging environments was incredibly satisfying and exhausting. Time out from work pressures for some of the team meant shopping. I am a very reluctant shopper and those who know me, know I need a very good reason to shop. On this occasion I thought my daughters would like some arty stuff from Africa.  Down the road from our backpackers accomodation in Cape Town, South Africa, street sellers would gather to sell assortments of small handmade African animals made out of coloured wire and plastic. They were quirky to look at and were cleverly made.  The street sellers didn’t have stalls. They just sold what they had in their hands. Keep in mind there is no social welfare system in South Africa. If you don’t work you go hungry and quite possibly your family does too.  Our team leader, Glenys, noticed my awkward attempts at bargaining. She too...

Why do bad things happen to good people? Last year there was a ‘smash and grab’ raid on our local Superette in Raglan. Angry and supportive messages filled the community Facebook pages. Photos of the mess and damage were alarming and it wasn’t the first time the shop had been targeted like this. The owners are  a delightful, hard working, kind couple.   The following day after the raid I visited the shop and had a chat with the owner. Remarkably, the mess had been cleaned up and most of the damage was fixed. He was deeply touched with the love and practical support from locals.  The offenders also raided the Te Uku General Store. There was less damage inflicted on the store due to the owner being on site and scaring them off. I spoke with one of the shop staff members and encouraged them as best I could. Surely my class could do something to help.  After discussing the facts of what had occurred with my students we then explored how the owner and staff would be feeli...

In my early days of teaching at a northland primary school, we used to live next door to a family that belonged to an ultra conservative church/cult. The children had to abide by many strict rules. No television was on the long list. Some rules are meant to be broken, so sometimes we would move our TV next to a big window that faced the families back yard. The volume was turned up and windows opened so the children could see and hear some cartoons or a nature documentary. It wasn’t too long before they would be sitting on their lawn, enjoying being part of a wider world. POINTS to PONDER Being kind can help to break down rules and regulations that bind people to cultish nonsense, that is the antithesis to kindness. Be willing to take some measured risks in helping others. Asking for permission might mean nothing is done. If you’re not sure what to do, follow your heart.