The Kindness of Strangers

Today, I was given a remarkable gift, the second one in less than a week from the same benevolent stranger .

I recently put together my first website. No, I didn’t code it - you know better than that! It’s a Ning site for our sister organization, The Protogenia Project. It had been fun up until last week.

The first stumbling block came when I tried to integrate an Amazon bookstore so we could sell the books, CDs, DVDs and other cool products from our wonderful members, especially those who were featured in the book that inspired the website. (Free download at http://www.protogeniaproject.com/) Amazon makes it so easy, but there was a teensy hitch. The store didn’t quite fit within the Ning frame; it was cutting off the part that allowed people to buy and this was way beyond my beginner ability. Nowhere in the Amazon help section was there an answer for this particular problem so I tackled another first – I posted a question to the aStore discussion board. Several answer posts appeared, then I heard from a woman who gave simple step-by-step instructions and went on to go the second and third mile. Araby generously created a narrow template complete with clear instructions on how to implement it. When that almost, but not quite, solved the problem, she figured that out, too.

Hmmmmm….wonder if she could help solve my other pesky problem? I wanted to put a “Find Us on Facebook” clickable image on the Protogenia Project home page so folks could find our Facebook fan page. Both Facebook and Ning make that easy in theory, but once again there was a stumbling block. For some reason, the hyperlink wasn’t “sticking.” The image showed up, but didn’t go anywhere even after adding the hyperlink html. Those of you who know me personally know that part of me still thinks all of this is magic. Maybe I wasn’t twitching my nose correctly or something.

Once again, Araby stepped in and stuck with it until the problem was solved.

To someone with more knowledge or experience, these problems probably wouldn’t be problems at all. For me, they were dead ends beyond which I could not move without help.

This woman doesn’t know me. We’ve never met and as far as I know, we don’t have any mutual friends. In the course of our conversation, we did discover that we have lived near Charleston, SC though we were separated by 15 years. She simply saw the problem, knew she had something to offer, and gave it. That’s all. But that was everything.

I can’t help but wonder what would happen in the world if each of us made a conscious effort to give something every day. I dare you. Don’t worry whether it is “big” or “small.” Araby’s example has reminded me that sometimes the things we take for granted are exactly the things someone else needs to receive. What information can you share? What introduction can you make? Who can you give a smile?

Giving is contagious. Start an epidemic.

And thank you, Araby. You already feel like a friend.