This happened to one of my best friends recently.
She went to a high-end salon to inquire about the cost of a haircut. The hairdresser came up to her, ran her fingers down my friend's hair and... froze.
'Are you taking medication for some cancer?' she asked.
My friend nodded silently, her eyes welling up with tears. She was not alone. The hairdresser's eyes, too, were welling up. A tender moment lingered over these two woman who, till a few moments ago, had not even set eyes on each other.
The moment passed. And was replaced by another, just as beautiful.
The hairdresser insisted that my friend take a comfortable seat and order a beverage of her choice (coffee). Ignoring my friend's feeble protests, she set about cutting her hair. Once she had given my friend a beautiful haircut, she took out a premium membership card and said:
'This is valid till December 2015. I'm sure you will be alive and well on that date. Come over again for your second free haircut.'
Stunned and humbled, my friend tried to convey her gratitude through words which, at that moment, felt unequal to the task. What an astonishing act of kindness!
'Such goodness exists in this world,' my friend told me.
'Perhaps the universe is sending back the kindness you sent out,' I told her, trying to make sense of a miracle using a well-known idea.
The incident is all the more remarkable because my friend was dealing with a sense of shock at recent events. She was questioning fundamental notions such as trust, friendship and sharing.
And out of the darkness came the hairdresser, almost as if she was asking her not to lose faith in humanity.
For me, too, this incident has come as a reiteration of a chosen belief. For a while now, I've believed that the world is not filled with good people or bad people. It is filled with people who have led unique lives that make them deal with their situations in unique ways. Sometimes, they react positively. Sometimes, they don't. And since we see both kinds of reactions simultaneously all around us, only our focus and our perceptions decide what we take away from the world. Perhaps we are given the power to make an active choice between seeing positivity or seeing negativity. If that is the case, can we use that power wisely?
She went to a high-end salon to inquire about the cost of a haircut. The hairdresser came up to her, ran her fingers down my friend's hair and... froze.
'Are you taking medication for some cancer?' she asked.
My friend nodded silently, her eyes welling up with tears. She was not alone. The hairdresser's eyes, too, were welling up. A tender moment lingered over these two woman who, till a few moments ago, had not even set eyes on each other.
The moment passed. And was replaced by another, just as beautiful.
The hairdresser insisted that my friend take a comfortable seat and order a beverage of her choice (coffee). Ignoring my friend's feeble protests, she set about cutting her hair. Once she had given my friend a beautiful haircut, she took out a premium membership card and said:
'This is valid till December 2015. I'm sure you will be alive and well on that date. Come over again for your second free haircut.'
Stunned and humbled, my friend tried to convey her gratitude through words which, at that moment, felt unequal to the task. What an astonishing act of kindness!
'Such goodness exists in this world,' my friend told me.
'Perhaps the universe is sending back the kindness you sent out,' I told her, trying to make sense of a miracle using a well-known idea.
The incident is all the more remarkable because my friend was dealing with a sense of shock at recent events. She was questioning fundamental notions such as trust, friendship and sharing.
And out of the darkness came the hairdresser, almost as if she was asking her not to lose faith in humanity.
For me, too, this incident has come as a reiteration of a chosen belief. For a while now, I've believed that the world is not filled with good people or bad people. It is filled with people who have led unique lives that make them deal with their situations in unique ways. Sometimes, they react positively. Sometimes, they don't. And since we see both kinds of reactions simultaneously all around us, only our focus and our perceptions decide what we take away from the world. Perhaps we are given the power to make an active choice between seeing positivity or seeing negativity. If that is the case, can we use that power wisely?
With so much cynicism around, its refreshing to see these kind of positive outlook to life ... good read :)
ReplyDelete:) Beautiful.
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