Random Acts of Kindness.

Monday morning comes as quickly as ever notice how even though it does not affect me I hate it when it rains first thing Saturday morning.

Probably in solidarity with all the people who have been at work all week hoping for a fine weekend only to find rain first thing in the morning on Saturday.

Especially frustrating if every day at work it was getting better and warmer until your precious day off and the temperature drops.

A colleague said this was because there were too few cars driving around at the weekend!

A novel approach to climate change and perhaps we have all got it wrong and my now ex colleague Iris (great name) has got it right.

In that case we have the solution people will have to volunteer to drive so many miles additionally to prevent bad weather at weekends and festivals and birthday's and other party moments.

Realised of course right away that my dear colleague was very given to humorous comments which were not immediately obvious.

More of a slow burner as the increasing absurdity struck one.

I miss seeing her everyday, her and the rest of my colleagues but especially Iris.

Her sister had MS too, at the time when I started working with Iris in 2004 I knew of no one personally who had MS just Ronny Lane from the Small Faces and Richard Prior.

Then Iris told me about her sister, by 2004 she was fulltime in bed the MS had progressed quite fast for her.

By Se ptember 2005 when I fell down and broke the cartilage in my knee Iris's sister asked her doctor to honour her previous request for euthanasia, to be carried out.

This happened in September 2005 and was an extremely difficult time for Iris and then the following July I was diagnosed with MS too.

I miss seeing her but totally understand how and why she wants to see me too but can not bear to come round.

Glad that here in the Netherlands we have the right to decide when enough is enough and we do not want to live anymore.

Not an easy decision but better this way than having to suffer endlessly as well as better for those close.

Hard to legislate for something like this as emotions come into play and we humans are so emotional, sometimes it is expressed badly and is misdirected.

Always like to look closely and dig deep to try and see what is happening with the other person.

Richie says sometimes I do not need to dig so deep.

Perhaps it is my experience with my family that gives me this empathy.

I can not cope too well with seeing anyone let alone a small child being in anyway badly treated or pushed into doing something against their will.

Once when I was visiting friends I cried when I saw that mealtimes were being turned into a battleground.

My crying shocked both the baby as well as the parents and mealtimes soon after became a pleasanter time.

Was pretty shocked myself at the time when I realised what an effect all the meal time drama had had on me that over forty years later it could trigger such tears.

Proof positive that what is needed is lots of empathy and less dogma and inflexibility and more love and understanding.

Please pass on love to all around you today, let us all do random acts of kindness today to all we meet.

Have a good day everyone.