Hooray for the lady in the purple dress

[icarus]

Yesterday an exhausted, over-heated dog was tied up in the blazing sun outside the post office. A big black lady in a purple dress pulled up in a new Honda.

She finished her errands, glanced over at the dog... then bought some bottled water and rummaged around in her car for something to use as a water dish. It didn't work well, a lot spilled, but puppy-dog lapped it up happily, obviously very thirsty. She drove away, without applause or fanfare, expecting none.

I'm still grinning.

On another note, apparently people announce these things. So, my friendslist hit 500 a few weeks ago.

I feel like I should have a prize for the 500th customer. *ding*

Comments

[ellensmithee.livejournal.com]

I feel like I should have a prize for the 500th customer. *ding*

The key to LiveJournal, maybe?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It's a very large, golden, mythical key, that fades in and out -- Tzot! zzzt.. -- as it's presented....

Icarus

[kaalee.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you shared that story! It made me so very very happy. *hugs you*
*hugs the purple lady*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It was so sweet, and you should have seen the dog's tail wag as he looked up at her, then drank the water, then looked up at her again. :)

Icarus

[corvidae9.livejournal.com]

Hooray for the purply lady!!! :DDD

Animal people rule!!

[kaalee.livejournal.com]

I seriously can't stop smiling. This is the kind of story you write down in a little notebook and keep it in your bag for when you're having a rotten day.

Random person story: I was sitting on the subway in Boston and finished a mystery novel. The woman next to me was reading, but put her bookmark in and dug into her bag for something. I noticed the book as a mystery I'd read earlier that week and said something to her. We got talking about mysteries and she mentioned that she needed a new mystery author to read. I realized that I had one in my hands and said, "Oh, here's one!" She was really surprised that I meant for her to take the book, but I told her, "I won't read it again. You should have it!" We chatted for a few more stops and then she got off.

I'm not sure exactly why your story reminded me of that, but maybe it's the complete randomness of it. You see something, you do it, 'nuff said...

I'll stop babbling now. :)

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful story. Thanks so much for sharing it. I tend to be pessimistic about the human race -- maybe I should stop watching the news -- but little moments like this make my heart creak in a very nice way.

It also reminds me of a story from my own history... I suppose because it also involved a big black lady. In this case, a bus driver.

About 10 years ago, a packed Muni bus was sputtering over the hill linking the Castro and Noe Valley. It was the far end of evening rush hour, and the stinky vehicle was packed with tired, cranky people on their way home from work.

We stopped at a light, and that's when we saw it: On the opposite corner, a group of five yahoos surrounded a frightend young man, shoving and threatening and insulting and generally doing all the things that are precursors to what used to be called a fag-bashing. Yes, these things happen even in San Francisco.

Everyone saw. A murmur of outrage rippled through the bus. Yet nobody moved. Because fear of physical harm can derail the best of intentions. Because we're so used to watching horror that we've forgotten how to act.

Nobody moved... except one person.

The bus driver slammed on the bus's emergency break, wrenched open the door, and heaved her gigantic frame -- oh, she was big -- from the driver's seat and out the door.

"YOU LEAVE THAT BOY ALONE!" she roared, swooping down on the yahoos like an avenging fury in a brown polyster uniform. "YOU HEAR ME? YOU LEAVE THAT BOY ALONE!"

With that, the bus came alive. Commuters let out a collective roar and poured down the steps after the driver, waving fists and umbrellas. The yahoos looked at each other. They looked at the wave of outrage and clenched fists. But mostly they looked at the bus driver -- oh, she was so big -- bearing down on them, and in her eyes they saw no mercy.

They ran. The driver gathered the young man, who had started crying -- so small, so fragile, practically a teenager -- into her massive arms, steered him back to the bus and put in a call to the police. And we followed her and waited for the cops to arrive, flushed with the rediscovery that we could fight, that the mundane horrors of the world needn't defeat us ever time, that one person could loom large and make a difference.

It was a good night.

So that's my story, inspired by yours. Brief moments, small gestures, acts of compassion and courage that inspire us to keep getting out of bed every morning. We need more of them.

[singtoangels.livejournal.com]

Damn, woman. ::kicks the dirt despondantly, then brightens:: Well, I have almost 500 members in my yahoo group! That counts, right?

Lol. We all have our happy little stalkers,darling. Stalkers for happiness makes . . . not. God, the life of a BNF. I really do pity you, babe. All the entertaining of the happy masses. Then they attack like wild mountain sheep. Ack. ::pets your head::

[singtoangels.livejournal.com]

I think it was a really lovely thing to do, too. Unfortunately, my first thought after reading that was that the people who left the dog outside in the heat needed to be shot.

[merrycontrary.livejournal.com]

Okay, maybe it's that I know that bus line (and what it's like in rush hour), or that I can so easily call to mind the muni uniform. Or maybe it's just hormone-based wibbling combined with homesickness. But in any case, I am all teary and smiling now. Thank you.

And Icarus, thank you for sharing the story of the lady in the purple dress. Human kindness really is out there, everyday. If we just remember to look for it. Geez, I'm all mushy today.

Thank you, ladies, for making my day.

[kaalee.livejournal.com]

I wasn't all that pleased with the leavers of the dog, either. But, yay! Purple lady!

[ragnhildholm.livejournal.com]

I love that! Three cheers for the lady in the purple dress!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you how happy it made me. I'm not even sure the dog was all that thirsty -- he didn't finish the water -- but that sort of human kindness makes my day.

Icarus

[jaig.livejournal.com]

:) I like that woman.

A PRIZE FOR US ALL. I want cookies and muffins.