The kindness of strangers

Today,  a little girl who arrived home from school a little weary and battleworn (for today was the Kent Test, or the 11-plus, as it is also known) was cheered up no end by a beribboned and tissue-wrapped parcel which awaited her return. In that parcel was this T-shirt, which as you can see, sports a dolphin motif.

Princess Bunchy, as you might remember from this post, has a penchant for all things dolphin, although she has much to say, which is not entirely approving, on the subject of dolphins kept in captivity. However, this dolphin fixed in time and place is, in her informed opinion, the pink and pinnacle of perfection.

And for this we have to thank the kindness of dearest Florence, who also goes under the nom-de-plume of Flossie Teacakes. Florence does a rather nifty line of T-shirts, of which Princess Bunchy has a delightful, and growing, collection.

You can see from the photos that they are much admired by the discerning Border Collie.

Princess Bunchy and I have both been touched and cheered by this wonderful act of kindness, and one of the things that I have found so lovely about the blogging community is the generosity of spirit exhibited by bloggers, both in the comments on blogs, and in the sharing that goes on via giveaways and swaps and pay-it-forward arrangements.

There are two lovely swaps going on at the moment which don't require a huge investment of time or money - the Letter Writing Swap at A Bun Can Dance, and the Marmalade Kiss Seed Swap. But perhaps signing up to a swap or a pay-it-forward seems like too much of a commitment, with the allied fear of not being able to meet one's obligations or not living up to a perceived high standard.

So I have an idea for you, which involves no tit for tat, and is entirely unconditional. Wordsworth writes of the significance of 'little, nameless, unremembered acts/Of kindness and of love', and also George Eliot in Middlemarch tells us that 'the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts'.

So without thought of return, go and commit an act of kindness today, and make the world a better place. And I promise that you will feel better for it, too.

Someone I met once said to me that she believed that if you live your life with a giving attitude, then blessings will come to you - and funnily enough I have always found it to be true. So, Florence, may blessings come to you - and in turn I am off to commit some acts of kindness myself! Perhaps you might like to take cover.