The Peacock, or How to Spot a Genuinely Giving Soul

It is a curious observation that my newsfeed is flooded with people who feel the need to tell others how great or generous or charitable they are, on their Facebook walls, or in groups. You know, the ones who cannot contain their pride quietly after doing a good deed and feel the need to tell the entire world how they bought that cup of coffee for a stranger or witnessed tears on another’s face after saying something nice to them, encouraging others to do the same… Or the new generation of motivational gurus/coaches who proclaim “I want to inspire people!” or ask “How did I help to change your life?” before actually doing anything passed the point of self-serving interests… Or the Christian religious pigeon heads (most of whom haven’t even read the Bible and are literally eating up whatever is served to them in the name of “God” and have no understanding of how the Higher Forces actually operate and how they’ve literally exchanged their freedom for love in the form of pain) who do something kind for the sake of recognition and attention while presenting it under the sauce of “serving God”.

Clap-clap-clap. I’m gonna give you an example of raw kindness that isn’t done for the applause or self-promotion, or in the name of “Jesus”. The type of raw kindness I sometimes am privileged enough to attract into my life from other people. This doesn’t happen every day (yet) but when it does, even via a small gesture, when I feel that it’s truly genuine, reminds me that the Universe loves us and that when we learn to love it and ourselves in a way to be able to give without feeling any sense of loss, that’s when true gifts start pouring in.

While recently in Miami at the Vizcaya Gardens with my mother, on our way back my phone’s battery died before I was able to get Uber or use the GPS. We walked down the rather empty road in hopes that we were walking in the right direction (we were not lol) until we stumbled upon… a peacock. Yes, a peacock was hanging out on someone’s front lawn, and sure enough, I thought this must have been some “sign” (you know, us spiritual weirdos and our “signs” lol). We then saw a woman next door watering her lawn and asked her for directions to the intersection we were going to. Instead of just pointing us in the right direction, she turned off her water sprayer, and said: “come with me!”.

She walked into her upscale home (not a cheap neighborhood near Vizcaya), said something to her husband, and told us to get into her Porsche SUV. She was a middle-aged Portuguese woman with an accent. She drove us for about 20 minutes to the Miracle Mile in Coral Gables because she wanted us to have dinner in a nice part of Miami. There was a bit of traffic at that time so her drive back would have taken her at least another 20 mins. She dropped whatever she was doing just to drive us, pro bono, no questions or money asked. in fact, we got so carried away with chatting during our ride that we forgot to ask each other’s names! Yep.

Holding her hand at the end of that ride when we were saying our goodbyes felt special. I hope you all get a chance to hold someone’s hand who has no ulterior motives and who just wants to help. It is a different kind of feeling. And no, it has nothing to do with someone’s social status or lack of thereof.

And those of you who run to your Facebook to write about your own glorious good deeds while forgetting that you’ve got a long way to go to reaching authenticity may never know just how that feels. But I hope someday you do. When you learn how raw kindness differs from the validation-seeking one. Sending you my love. The non-suffering-glamourizing type of love.