“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Yesterday morning, I was out in the car helping my daughter, Jane,
learn how to drive. We live in a small village called Ashford, about
45 minutes outside Dublin.
Around this time each year, strawberries come into season in Ireland,
and there’s a local spot just outside the village where a man sets up
a small stand to sell them
—right outside the local church, giving it that quintessential traditional Irish feel!
It was a beautiful day, with the sun sitting in a blue sky and the birds singing around us, and as I approached the stand, the seller was serving a woman.
When he was finished, I asked if he had a card machine.
“Cash only, I’m afraid,” he said.
“No problem,” I replied. “I’ll come back to you later today so.”
I walked back to the car, where Jane was waiting.
About a minute later, just as we were about to move,
there was a knock on the driver’s side window.
A man in his 60s was smiling in at us.
Jane let the window down.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, all good! It’s a beautiful day,” he replied.
A long pause – as he stared at both of us.
My inner voice immediately thought: Did we hit something with the car?
Then he said something unexpected:
“My wife would like to buy you some strawberries.”
I walked back to the stand, a little taken aback at this unexpected generosity.
I shook hands with the woman I’d seen earlier and she explained that she had enough extra cash to buy me a punnet of strawberries.
I was genuinely gobsmacked by the gesture.
These particular strawberries are probably the best you can taste anywhere,
but they were even sweeter when myself and my family had them later that evening.
In today’s increasingly polarised, distracted world, it’s easy to believe that
kindness is fading.
It’s easy to get consumed by your own goals, your own needs, your own problems.
But this small act was a powerful reminder that the universe still holds beauty.
And it often reveals itself in the simplest, most human of ways.
.
This week, a reflection:
Where can you give to a stranger?
And what might happen if you did?
Best,
Shane
P.S. It’s a small world, so just in case someone reading this email knows a Tom and Isault from Enniskerry, Ireland…
Please tell them again, Go raibh míle maith agaibh (Irish for ‘Thank you very much!’)
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