Yesterday’s lunch craving took me to my mobile’s map and ratings. I found a place nearby; casual, inexpensive, and most importantly, a very positive food rating. As I arrived, I found myself in a Dubai dead zone. Outside of an inexpensive hotel and a couple of low-rise office buildings, there was little else. Next to my parking spot was an odd tombstone-like marker in the sidewalk. The stone marker, faded and weathered, was the home of a time capsule. In this sandy, easily unknown, and forgotten part of Dubai, a capsule had been placed 26 years ago. In 74 years, it will be opened, assuming someone remembers it exists.
I stood over the stone, reimagining 1997. It was a different era. The newspaper published nearby held a prominent role in society. Business Bay nearby was not imagined. I wonder who made the capsule content choices. As the sun relentlessly poured over my neck and shoulders, the sweat dripped off my brow and quickly evaporated on the brick sidewalk. It was as if I was reliving history’s gems, rediscovering insights easily forgotten and lost in life today.
Much of our angst today could have been avoided if we had seized the opportunity to act with kindness and share a loving embrace. The sense of being abandoned, not belonging, even alienated, is overwhelming for many. It often starts early. Frequently, it never ends. Consequently, at some point, demands are placed on the table. At the heart of it all is a longing to belong, to be embraced, and to experience unconditional acts of kindness.
One cannot experience good through the absence of bad. Trying to eliminate cruelty is the first step. However, it is in embracing kindness and love that a community is born and grows. “All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.” (Romans 5.20)
My day’s calling is clear. May kindness and love live in every moment.
