Try a little kindness

The local chicken factory was reputed to have supplied the leanest and plumpest of chicken breasts in Northern Ireland. So, having heard this, my wife sent me on an errand to buy, not just one but two boxes of those plumper than other chicken breasts – one for the work colleague and one for our family freezer.

It was a rare hot summers day, when I arrived at the chicken factory, to collect the said luscious chicken breasts. I paid my £100 at the factory office and hurriedly carried the two boxes to the boot of my car, to get them out of the sun. And then it happened – in my haste I had set my car keys beside the chicken boxes and promptly closed the boot lid, inadvertently locking the keys inside. What a fool I felt I felt when I realised my faux-paux.

As ‘ingenuity is the mother of invention’, I thought, if I phoned a local locksmith that he’d maybe gain access to the boot before the factory closing time. Unfortunately, the locksmith and I were to discover that this car boot was like Fort Knox – totally impregnable. So I stood there, stuck a long way from home, with neither car nor blessed chickens to take with me.

In the words of Laurel and Hardy, “What a fine mess I’d gotten myself into.”

I made the arduous journey back down home to Belfast to retrieve a second key for my car. The next day when I returned, the stench hit me – yes, the chicken breasts had been slowly cooking in the heat of the summer sunshine and they were rancid – absolutely stinking!

With the panic of the one hundred pounds, down the proverbial drain, I sheepishly approached the receptionist at the factory to ask if she could she possibly dispose of the chickens, when, out of the blue, something most unexpected happened. The manager came out, and in knowing my plight, he took pity on me and my loss. Instead of blaming me for being so stupid in locking my keys in the boot, he generously gave me a replacement batch of fresh chicken breasts – wow - he had redeemed the situation, at the expense of the factory, with no extra cost to myself.

As we go into our day today, maybe we too could demonstrate some such kindness

Maybe we too could extend a little “undeserved grace” instead of blame.

Maybe we too could “redeem situations” that would result in others being thankful.

In the words of the song by Glen Campbell:

“You’ve got try a little kindness,

Show a little kindness,

Shine your light for everyone to see,

And if you try a little kindness,

Then you’ll overlook the blindness,

Of the narrow-minded people on their narrow-minded streets.”