Monday, November 7, 2011

Random Acts of Kindness in Court




This week, as I sat in my local court room lobby waiting my turn to see the prosecutor for an unjustly served parking ticket, I wondered if the ticket I received would be dropped. And as I did, a stranger sat down next to me.

She began chatting almost immediately, and when somebody does that, it could be good or bad and frankly it makes me nervous. I'm social, but I just didn't feel like talking to anyone, and wasn't looking to make any new friends...I just wasn't in the mood.

But she kept talking, and I couldn't help but wonder what type of conversation it would turn out to be.  She seemed nice and after I got done listening to her'ticket-story, I realized my $76.00 (yes..seventy-six dollars) parking ticket was not nearly as bad as her $246.00 bond (and counting, plus other violations for no front plate).

I suppose that I could have easily considered that moment The Gift...and of course it was, to a point....

I'd already been sitting there for more than an hour, it was not even close to being my turn,  and if the ticket didn't get thrown out I'd be rubbing nickels together to pay for it! And now I was surely going to be very late for work. To top it off, I'd not gotten much sleep the evening before and  had a very bad night, plus a very long day ahead of me. I wasn't feeling so good, but i suppose I was a little relieved my ordeal was just a parking ticket, opposed to being arrested, like my new found acquaintance.

So, as she continued to discuss why she was sitting in court, she said something hysterical and it made me just start laughing out loud! I am hard pressed to find things that are so funny I burst out laughing like that in public...but she'd made it happen, and it was GREAT! I needed that:)

THAT was THE GIFT!

I didn't know her, and she could have kept to herself in her own misery (like I was)...but she didn't. She smiled, said hello, shared her funny and grueling story... and made me laugh.

A stranger gave me the brightest spot in my whole day.

And I am grateful.

You just never know when you, or someone sitting next to you, has something like that to share. I didn't even get her name...

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I got another gift. But this one was from the magistrate...

'Parking Ticket Dismissed'

:) O' Happy Day!


She wished me luck...and I hope she was as happy and as lucky as I was when I left.