Conversation with My Wife (212)
Doing nice things makes you feel nice, it turns out!
ME: Guess what we got in the mail?
DEB: (seeing the contents of the package) So we need to drop by the credit union to pick up some bills?
Gail Boenning and Manu Satsangi put together something called The Gift of Shared Kindness (GoSK) that I mentioned last year:
Gail and Manu even got interviewed about it!
We finally ran out of the little cards into which we tucked a five or a ten, then passed along to people who were nice to us as we saw fit (and remembered to have on hand [oops!]) in restaurants, shops, or whatever. Turns out it’s fun giving little bits of cash for deserving people! But we finally ran out, and went to buy more… only to find out that they are no longer available for sale.
So I asked Gail what happened.
Manu and I pulled the Gift of Shared Kindness from Etsy a while ago. The gift/card wasn’t receiving much attention and we paused… and then both took on other projects.
The great news is I have lots of GoSK stock. In gratitude for your support I will send you as many kits as you’d like — no charge! I checked with Manu… We are both really appreciative of the stories you wrote for us on Medium. Your willingness to experiment with GoSK is a gift.
DEB: Oh wow! Is she looking to unload them? We’ll take whatever she wants to get rid of. I think they’re fun, don’t you?
ME: Um, she’s paying for postage…
DEB: Then tell her we’ll cover the postage! Doesn’t that make sense?¹ And we just want the little cards [Auxiliary] because that’s what we use.
ME: Okay.
DEB: They shut it down because nobody was ordering them? Oh dear. To be honest, I’m not sure how many people would take the time to understand what GoSK was all about.²
Their loss! Meanwhile, Deb & I (more Deb, because she remembers better than I do) will spread small gifts of kindness, shared because of people like Gail and Manu.
¹Gail didn’t think so; she wouldn’t let us pay her back. Ah, but there are other ways than cash, dear lady! 😁
²Helps if you’re the kind of person who has learned to enjoy leaving spare change around parking lots and wooded paths because maybe kids will find it.
Copyright ©2021 by Jack Herlocker. All rights reserved, but you can be nice and share links with whomever you want.
