The Importance of Kindness

Today brings two seemingly unrelated items:

• I am blessed to live with one of the kindest humans out there.
• Our plumber died suddenly last night.

Paula is now the facilities manager of the house and in her duties as such, she ran across Chuck, who was a friend of the random landscaper that she had found.

Serendipity being what it is, Chuck came along just as we were discovering major plumbing issues. Between clearing stubborn sewer clogs, replacing cracked sewer pipes, installing toilets, and other miscellaneous whatnot, he has saved us thousands of dollars. He was temporarily unemployed (he'd worked for some major industrial company, like a shipbuilder or something, I don't even know), so we came along at the perfect time for him as well.

I never met Chuck, but he and Paula spent several long days working together at the house. Apparently they bonded more than either of us had considered.

This morning, Paula received a text at 6:20am or so. When she loudly exclaimed, "Oh NO!", I knew it wasn't good. It was Chuck's wife, informing her that Chuck had suddenly passed away at 2:50am this morning. She told Paula that she (Paula) had made his week last week, and that he was very fond of her. He had been working with his son on some jobs, and she told Paula that the son would finish whatever Chuck had started. She also said that there would be no funeral, as that was not Chuck's style, but there would be instead a BBQ to celebrate his life, and that she would let Paula know the details.

I am struck by the power of a seemingly unimportant connection. While I was thrilled to have a good (and affordable) plumber to call, I never met him, so I never made a human connection with him. Paula, being Paula, immediately befriended him somehow, and the two developed a bond that meant more than probably either of them realized. He obviously sang her praises to his wife; she spoke very highly of him to me. I am pleased and touched that Paula can be a source of comfort to a total stranger: Chuck's wife felt compelled to reach out to Paula and wants to meet her, at what has got to be one of the worst times of the woman's life.

I have two takeaways from this:

• Never underestimate the power of humanity.
• Don't be an asshole and squander a potential opportunity to add a bright spot to the world.

Peace.