Tim-Kind
‘No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.’
Aesop
My watch stopped last week.
I went to get a new battery.
I waited while the man in the shop served another customer.
The man looked vaguely familiar.
My turn came.
I handed over my watch, waiting as a new battery was fitted.
A new strap, too.
This was the first time I’d ever been to that shop,
but I was sure I recognised the man.
Pushing the vague possible recognition to one side, I thanked him, paid, and took my now-working watch, strapping it to my wrist as I walked out.
The strap was too big for my wrist.
Much too big.
I turned and headed back into the shop.
The man gave a smile of welcome (back), and wondered how he could help.
It was then that the penny dropped.
“Do you ever work in the shop in town?” I asked
“I sometimes work in the one near Leicester Market,” he replied.
It was definitely him.
My watch (a different one) stopped at the start of lockdown 2020.
I couldn’t go to get a new battery.
I couldn’t go anywhere.
When the advice came that shops could open, one of my first thoughts was my watch.
I’d go and get a new battery.
Which would mean wearing a mask.
Not only that, but meeting other mask-wearing people.
Who might talk to me, and I wouldn’t be able to see their lips, let alone have a stab at lipreading.
I was nervous.
I went to the shop, and the first thing I said was ‘I’m deaf.”
I may have shouted it.
Does sound carry through masks? I didn’t know.
The man behind the counter pulled down his own mask,
smiled,
and wondered how he could help.
Here’s a short video I made back then, which includes this ‘lockdown story’ at the end.
The man’s name is Tim.
He didn’t remember our first encounter, and was completely unaware of the impact his kindness had on me.
So much impact that, in a different location, four years later, I recognised him.
Let’s celebrate the Tims in life.
The people who have kindness as their default.
And let’s be people who have kindness as our default.
Tim-Kind.