Good People Everywhere

            Just when you think people are only out for themselves something happens to show you otherwise. It’s usually something small that you notice someone has done for someone else. Sometimes it’s a common courtesy, which isn’t all that common these days, that doesn’t even need to happen to you. Being witness to one always makes me smile. And if I’m alone, look around for someone else who appears to have noticed it too. When my wife is with me I usually look at her and we both smile knowing we’re thinking the same thing. “Did you see that? That’s really nice”, accompanied by a nudge of an elbow.

            I have, for some reason, become the recipient of a number of these occurrences over the past week. People are going out of their way to help me with something I need, for no reason. Yet they are considering me, a complete stranger to them, in there daily activity or routine.

            Here’s the situation. The restaurant chain Tim Horton’s has once again issued its limited edition Tim Card reloadable gift cards featuring the logos of the hockey teams from the CHL (Canadian Hockey League). This includes teams from the WHL (Western Hockey League), OHL (Ontario Hockey League) and the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League).

The kicker is that each card is only issued in the city in which the team resides. So in order to get an Ottawa 67’s, Calgary Hitmen, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles or a Victoria Royals, card you need to physically wander into a Tim Horton’s restaurant within the limits of those cities and pick one up. Easy, unless you’re attempting to collect them all.

            I started collecting this year’s cards a little later than I should have. I’ have met some other collectors on the interweb and traded cards in order to obtain ones from other cities. This is going swimmingly but the availability of these cards is becoming less and less as days go by. As I said previously, these are limited edition which unfortunately means limited time as there is only so many of each distributed.

            Now I have taken one step further in the pursuit of completing a full set. I’ve posted some ads on the Kijiji website in the cities of certain teams with the Tim Cards issued. I express my interest in the cards and my willingness to trade the ones from my city for the cards from theirs.

            The responses I’ve received are surprising in more ways than one. Not only am I getting numerous replies daily, I am awed by the number of people who want nothing in return.

            With minor differences in the way it is presented, the message is the same. They saw my ad requesting the specified Tim Cards. No they do not trade them nor have an interest in trading them. Yet they explain that they saw some in their local Tim Horton’s the other day and would I like for them to stop in and pick one up to mail to me. Yes I have counted the number of times this has happened but let’s just say that within a very short time I’ve come a lot further with this year’s collection than I thought possible.

            All I can say is WOW! These people who I have never met, and probably never will face to face, not only are they reading the ad but offering to take time out of their day to consider me, a person who means nothing to them nor has anything that they want.

           

After thanking them just enough times before it gets weird, I ask if there is anything I can do for them in return. The answer is equally surprising. They say, and I will quote one of them here, “No thanks. Just saw your ad and thought I could help you out. I‘ll drop them in the mail tomorrow. Enjoy your collection”. This is pretty much the answer every time.

The funny thing about all of this is the fact that I have yet to be contacted through my Kijiji postings by anyone who is actually collecting these cards.

To the people who have and to the people who will contact me, all I can say is keep checking your mail. The least I can do is to buy you a coffee for your trouble. There may just be a Tim Card coming your way.

Thank you once again. No, it’s still not weird.

Fortunate Not Thankful

With the Canadian Thanksgiving not long over and the American Thanksgiving fast approaching there is plenty of talk this time of year about being thankful for the things in our lives. Funny how we seem to need a special occasion to remind us to ponder what good there is in our lives at that very time. Embrace these moments because without them we may very well get so caught up in ourselves and the swift pace of the world that we would forget to stop and notice any of it at all.

This is when we all instinctively try to, before, during, and for a short time, after the grand gathering try to remember the things we are thankful for.

            Consider for moment those few assorted times of the year that remind us to take the opportunity and regard just how important all of the things we take for granted have truly become in our lives. For a lot of people it means a special time with family and close friends doing nothing but sharing a meal, a few drinks, having a good time and appreciating being in each other’s company, even if it has been an entire year since we did the exact same thing. It is important.

            The definition of the word “thankful” as listed in the Oxford Dictionary is:

Pleased and relieved: ‘I am very thankful for the contribution and support of everyone at the meeting.’

Or

Expressing gratitude and relief: ‘He closed the door, thankful that the meeting was over.’

            This is fitting for most situations, and we are sincerely grateful, pleased and relieved, but sometimes for me, the word “thankful” does not feel strong enough. I prefer to use the word “fortunate” in its place. It is listed in the Oxford dictionary as:

Favoured by or involving good luck; blessed: ‘I consider myself very fortunate to have been given this opportunity.’

            Now that adds just the right amount of emotion. It gives that extra oomph to the consideration of just where you are and who you are surrounded by at this time in your life. Whether you happen to be standing back looking around the room taking it all in or making a toast to everyone, “fortunate”, to me, comes more from the heart and is not as easily passed off as just empty words that you say during the holidays.

Whether you are aware of it or not, there are a lot more things in life than you realize that you have no control over. Most of which are the circumstances that brought you to this point in time with these people. It is that moment when you realize that luck and favour did have a major role in all of this and that I truly have been blessed to be where I am right now in my life.

            I have had quite the medical rollercoaster ride for a while and have plenty of things that have happened over the course of the last year that I am very thankful for. But I consider myself rather fortunate to be alive and to have this opportunity to be able to sit here and feel exactly this way about it.