Cleaning Windows

December 25, 2024 Sharon Jacobson

Cleaning Windows

Sometimes I hear the words of this song
floating through my head
reminding me that
I can see clearly now
the rain is gone.
My Bubby would tell me
Rain is God washing the world
so I could see clearly.
Sometimes I feel like that is what
I do in life.
I wonder if perhaps I am
a janitor for spirit
as others are a janitor for me.
Are we wiping the windows of our worlds
and of others
so we can see clearly
and help others see clearly
for themselves.
Are we working together
to help give ourselves and others
a clearer vision
so we can see all the obstacles
in our way.

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Have I

July 25, 2022 Sharon Jacobson

Have I ___

It was a song
have I done any ____,
and it gave me a whole list of things to consider.
It got me thinking about
how do I show compassion,
and kindness
and my devotion to serving others.
Have I done anything today
that touched anyone’s life,
helped them have an everyday win,
made them smile, or
made them feel loved.
Have I done anything to help others?
Have I
showed compassion,
devotion,
kindness? Have I helped anyone? Have I lold people when they did well?
Have I been present
and mindful
loving, considerate and kind
or remembered to say
you are loved.
Have I done anything today
to touch you and your life?

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Kindness

December 10, 2020 Sharon Jacobson

Kindness

Kindness never fails.
People’s lives are changed
by random acts of kindness.
I knew of a young boy
who was ignored at school.
Then one day a group of kids
sat with him
and it changed his life.
In these days and times
we rarely hear about
kindness.
I am who I am today
in party because of the
kindness of others.
The ones who cared for me
when I was sick,
my parents who gave me a home
when I was up for adoption.
the professors who came to my bedside
and taught me when I was confined,
my wife who loves me
in good times and bad,
and so many others who have always shown me
kindness.
What if each day
we each performed
a random act of kindness.

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Beginnings

August 27, 2018 Sharon Jacobson

Beginnings
Not endings
Unlocking
Not closing
New doors
New pathways
New possibilities
Giving
Doing
Learning
Sharing
Growing
Continuing
Serving
Loving

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A Different Kind of Kindness Project

July 18, 2017 Sharon Jacobson

The other day, I was sent a story about an interaction between a homeless man and a manager at a Chik-fil-a. The homeless man had come in asking for remnants and anything they might be throwing away. Instead the manager offered to pray with him and then gave him a full meal. It is in these acts of radical hospitality that we practice unity. Whether this story is true or not is not important. What is important is the lesson it teaches about how to practice unity. When we honor the dignity in others and treat them with respect, then we work together in unity to promote love and kindness in the world

The world is full of people like this. The other day as I was in my mart cart waiting to check out at the grocery store, a young boy offered to help take all the groceries out of my cart. While I did not need the help, I could see that this was something he wanted to do and so I graciously accepted. What I learned was this this was a practice his parents were teaching him. Each day he is to do something kind for someone. When he does he gets a kindness sticker on his calendar. When he has a full calendar, his parents do something for him. His mom told me that one month, his act of kindness was to tell his parents they did not need to reward him for being kind. They did anyway. He has learned to work in unity with others to help achieve little goals.

For the sake of an Ant

May 10, 2016 Sharon Jacobson

Kindness does not to be anything huge. Sometimes it is the most simplistic of things which have life changing effects. This really hit home for me while reading an excerpt from a book called Essential Sufism, by editors James Fadiman and Robert Frager. They present a story about being kind to an ant.

"Service does not have to be great or dramatic. Years ago, the mother of one of the Ottoman sultans was devoted to charity. She built mosques and a great hospital and had public wells dug in parts of Istanbul that were without water. One day, she went to watch the construction of the hospital she was having built, and she saw an ant fall into the wet concrete of the foundation. She lifted the ant out of the concrete and set it on the ground.

Why Be Kind?

May 4, 2016 Sharon Jacobson

A friend of mine asked me for 10 reasons to be kind. I thought that was a great way to start this month off. In the process of thinking about and researching this, I found a pre-existing site. So let's start with these reasons as to why be kind

Kindness is encouraged by every major religion, by leaders as diverse as the Dalai Lama to Richard Carlson, the popular author of the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series. These books are really about kindness. I did an analysis of the 100 strategies listed in the first book of the Don't Sweat series. 85 of the 100 strategies listed related either to ways to be kind to yourself or others. The title of the series is even the result of a kind act!

What is your status?

December 1, 2014 Sharon Jacobson

As many people know today is World AID’s Day. So the question I want to ask each of you today is “What is your status?” Are you positive or are you negative? I don’t want to discount the experiences of those who are living with this virus. I know that living with this virus affects every aspect of your life, just as much as being whatever racial or ethnic identity you are, or sexual orientation you are, or what class you are, or what sex you are, or what gender you are. I know it affects your life in ways that those of us who have a medical diagnosis of HIV- may not understand.

But what I want to know is this, what is your status when it comes to HIV/AIDS?

K is for Kindness

February 11, 2013 Sharon Jacobson

Some words are easier to use than explain. Kindness is one of them. I recognize an act of kindness when I am the recipient of one, but trying to explain it has been difficult. It is not so much what someone has done that makes it feel like kindness, but the context in which it happens. For example, when I was still able to drive and had my own car, friends would swing by and pick me up so we could go do something together, I never thought twice about them doing that. It was just something we did for each other. Now that I can no longer drive and I have lost my paratransit services, when my friends offer to come take me and my manual wheelchair so I can go somewhere with them, I experience the effects of their act of kindness. In a poem called Kindness by Naomi Shihah Nye,[1] she explains that kindness is an inherent part of who we are. We become kind and gain an understanding of kindness when we understand what it is to have been in that space of deep sorrow and loss.

[1] Nye, Naomi Shihah (1995). Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, Portland, OR: Far Corner Books.

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