The kindness of strangers

I don't know this woman. Her name has been mentioned. I may have seen her once, maybe twice. But I don't know her, not really. Tonight I opened my mail and there was a card from her.

The face of the card was a beautiful orchid. For those of you that don't know, I'm an orchid fanatic. The card wasn't just a card, it was a signed print done by the mother of the woman I barely knew.

Inside the card was a rather long letter and this woman I barely know told me she has cancer. This woman has chemo several times a week, and I whine because I have to go twice a month. Her phone number was there and I called her and we talked and compared symptoms. We made plans to meet face to face.

Like me she is single and childless and like me, she has friends and family who come to her aide. She has a different type of cancer from me, and I don't know much about what she has to go through. But we knew the language of cancer, something we both had a crash course in the last few months.

So here is a woman, who is as sick as me, maybe sicker, reaching out offering me help. Cancer is a horrible, ugly disease, but strangers, friends, family have shown such enormous kindness that I know that mankind is not basically evil. I know that there are way too many good people out there just waiting for someone to help or encourage.

OK this is the second post lately that has reported on the kindness of strangers. Maybe it isn't my usual wit, but like Elizabeth Bennett, that which is truly noble and good will always be safe from ridicule by me. I will save my laughter for other objects, like eyebrows.