When a Sneaker is More Than a Sneaker-A report from the front line

This is a little break from my usual message. I just want to report some inspiring news from the front line when it comes to the Coronavirus. As some of you may know, I work for the Office of Mental Health. Yesterday morning one of my clients was experiencing a lot of anxiety after listening to the latest update on the spread of the virus. He said, " I have asthma. If I get the Coronavirus it might kill me or give me a heart attack. I'm really scared."

Needless to say I listened, acknowledged his fears, and than we had a talk, respecting social distance of course, and I managed to calm him down. He said as much. "Thanks for the talk. I can feel my anxiety going away. I feel a lot better", he said.

An act of Unexpected Kindness changes everything

This is the part of the story that is really inspiring. Later that day this same client was in an up beat mood.

He showed me a brand new pair of sneakers that he was wearing. They were a gift from another client of mine, who for the sake of privacy I'll just refer to as RG. " I just got these sneakers from RG. He gave them to me. I'm size eleven and he wears a size ten. They are new. He had a receipt but gave me the sneakers without asking for any money. Just gave them to me. No one has ever done that for me. Even people I know really well have never done that for me. Here is a guy I hardly know and he just gives me his brand new sneakers. I just can't believe it. I never knew that someone you hardly know can have such a good heart."

Connecting to your humanity

The next morning I caught up with RG and told him that he had done a nice thing for his fellow peer. He responded, " They would never fit me and he needed them."

I was thinking, because sometimes RG doesn't think too deeply about things, that he didn't fully understand just how much his follow peer needed that gift of sneakers. But something told me that in fact RG did understand completely what his gift meant. He had responded with humanity to someone he knew needed to be reassured by more than words.

This is what I mean when I say sometimes a sneaker is more than a sneaker. More importantly, I like to report that here on the frontline I am witness that our humanity remains strong. Keep postive. We will get through this.