I had an interesting day today in that things I planned on doing came out differently than how I had originally intended for it to go. Sometimes that’s a good thing though…
When I headed out in my car today, my original intention was to take my old suitcase to a place in downtown Boston named The Zipper Hospital. After many years of beatings, my suitcase was in need of an overhaul and this place seemed like it could do the job. When my morning prayer and meditation routine was done, I phoned them and asked where they were located. After finding out that parking was not free and that they weren’t even sure they would be able to help me with it, I did a quick Google search for an alternative and found one in Sudbury about 30 miles away. I was up for the drive as it was sunny outside for once here and parking was free there. (For anyone that knows Boston, where the original store was, to park simply an hour or more, can cost anywhere from $15 to $30 on up.) As I headed out the door, I decided to take an old backpack with me that needed a new zipper to see if the store could fix that as well.
About 40 minutes later, I was happy to know they could fix both and that I could pick them up in a few days. While I had been waiting for the repairperson to look over my items, I came across a new backpack that was on sale there. They had already informed me that the one I had was going to cost $20 to repair, so after about 15 minutes, I made the decision to take it back and buy the new one for about $20 more. In all honesty, I was glad to move on to a new one as the one I had been using was from an old friendship that had a lot of bad memories. When the woman brought my backpack out from the repair shop, I was shocked to find out it had already been fixed and told I could keep it with no charge.
I believe it’s a human trait to always want to get something for nothing, but I’ve learned over time that sometimes it’s better to pay it forward. After paying for my new backpack, I got in my car and decided to donate the newly repaired one that had nothing wrong with it now. The old me would have held onto it, thrown it in a closet and probably never used it again, and gotten some sort of selfish satisfaction that it was fixed for nothing. Thankfully, that’s not me anymore. I quickly looked on my phone’s internet and found a place not more than 10 minutes away called Global Thrift and decided I would make a quick stop there to drop it off. When I reached the store and went to the back where the donation area was, a guy smiled from ear to ear at me and thanked me profusely saying that my backpack probably would be out the door by the end of the day with some lucky kid as they were always in demand. I left the store with a smile on my heart and a kick in my step and felt a lot better that I had done that instead of what I probably would have done with it a few years ago.
I have a lot more things I want to donate in the near future and I’m looking forward to doing that. It’s amazing how a human being will hold onto something that is never used for years and years when someone out there could enjoy using it right here and now. Why does anyone hoard anything? I can only speak for me, and I know that it really is about my own selfishness and self-centeredness that generally is saying “well, geez, you might need this someday…” My rule of thumb today is that if I haven’t used it in over a year, it’s most likely I’ll never use it again, so donate it or get rid of it.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
