Perhaps they read a story on Facebook or saw it on the nightly news ... and rather than just thinking, "wow, that's so nice" they decided to drive over to their local Kmart and pay off a totally random stranger's bill. Each reported story fueled more stories and more people who decided to do someone else a favor and make their holiday a little bit brighter and easier.
No special rebates or tax write offs involved here. Just being nice to a total stranger.
On Tuesday it was reported that over $4,000 of bills had been paid off anonymously. The most recent report is over $400,000 worth of bills across the country. It's a phenomenon that is growing exponentially. And, every time I see a story on the news I just think to myself what a wonderful sign of Moshiach this is that people everywhere are helping strangers with random acts of love and charity.
I keep hearing the Rebbe's now famous speech on CNN to do acts of goodness and kindness... and this is one perfect example of how people are doing just that, with no other motive other than to lighten a stranger's load and light up their life.
http://youtu.be/MeBYuSxhqUM
"to do things in the realm of goodness and kindness"
They are being called Layaway Angels :)
Sweet... usually we think of angels the way we see them in ads or greeting cards. Fluffy little children with wings dressed in white looking all "angelic" or angels going up and down a ladder or the biblical angels who appeared to Abraham. But, in the real world you too can be an angel also!
No story has come along this year that shows so many people reaching out to strangers doing things in the realm of goodness and kindness as this year's phenomenon of Layaway Angels. I bet Hollywood wishes they would have thought of this one when looking for a good box office hit. Truth is often stranger than fiction and more beautiful, because it is real and often inspiration for the future. Art often imitates life and then we imitate art and on and on it goes.
To really appreciate this you have to have once been in the position that you knew there was no way you could buy your child that toy they wanted so badly or a crib or even clothes for winter and someone suggested you try putting it on Layaway. Go to any big store that has a Layaway counter, it's usually older women and young women, often poorly dressed, nervously holding on to whatever treasure they are trying to buy for someone else and hoping that they will have enough money left over each week to make that payment and make a wish come true for their child or grandchild. They are usually women, though sometimes men, who no longer have credit and their paycheck does not allow them to just "go shopping" so the only avenue left is buying something on sale and paying it off week by week. Sometimes, no matter how much they try and save the money is not there, an emergency came up and if they don't get the items out they forfeit them and sometimes ...depending on the terms of the agreemeent... lose the money they put out and the minimal fees that were charged. It happens a lot. Life happens. Life gets in the way. Emergencies come up and there simply isn't an extra $11.22 for your next payment. Layaway departments are usually the avenue of last resort for people whose backs are up against the wall and who are trying the best they can with what they have to make ends meet.
Been there, done it.... and it's a wonderful feeling when you pay off the balance and you come home with presents for Chanukah or clothes that you could not otherwise afford. One year in Los Angeles I bought my daughters the most beautiful red velvet and pink chiffon dresses on a sale that were a little over the top for Shabbos clothes but they loved them so much. The red velvet, white chiffon dress was my youngest daughter's favorite Shabbos dress. They would fall asleep in them and look a lot like an angels ... my angels :)
You want to help someone... someone who really needs? Trust me, the people trying to save to pay off their presents at Kmart are the most who need a random favor from a stranger.
And, most of all what amazes me is that random, everyday people took the time to "take action" rather than just simply passing the link to the story around them, they took action and inspired their friends to take actions.
Taking action...therein is the magic. "Doing things" .... the key word here is "doing" and my question to you is what have you done lately for a random stranger to make their day a little better?
What can you do tomorrow to make someone's world a little bit better?
It's easy to go online and click on a link and give charity, but it's not so easy to think of a way to do something special that will make a difference in another person's life without them knowing you did it, is it?
The people who took the time to walk over to the Layaway counter, usually in the back of the store near the restrooms and stood in line and asked some overworked employee if they could pay off a bill for someone else are heroes and the type of heroes who bring Geulah a little closer every day. The people who got dressed, drove over to Kmart in the rain and asked to pay off someone's bill who had a lot of toys or baby clothes is an angel indeed, a soldier in the battle between good and evil and a warrior in bringing heaven down to earth.
It's great to be alive this December of 2011 to see and hear these stories and watch the faces of the mothers, grandmothers and their children who heard the news that someone came along and paid for their holiday treasures.
Think what a lesson we are teaching these children in the way of the world or the way that the world should be and one can only wonder how an inspired child will grow up, and continue the chain of doing for others with acts of goodness and kindness and increasing in charity themselves one day.
Beautiful, simply beautiful!
I'm sure there are quite a bit of neighborhood stores where you could easily go to the owner and ask to pay off someone's bill or offer to have money put onto someone's bill for them to use as they need be it for Shabbos or just for dinner. A sheitel for a Kallah, siddurim at a bookstore for bochurim, tuition for a random family at a Day School or Yeshiva. Pay for someone's child to go to summer camp. The list is endless.
You simply have to think where you could go and help a random stranger and play this phenomenon forward so that it doesn't end with this holiday season but continues into 2012 and beyond.
Do it!
Anywhere you live there is some sort of program where you can do something to help someone else.
http://www.wral.com/entertainment/holiday/page/3956064/ <-- Donate toys or coats to others
Donate your reading glasses to the Lions Club----> http://donateglasses.org/
http://ahavasyisrael.org/ <--give to an organization that gives to others
Want to help a bride/kallah?? -----> http://bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/
Or...go to your local store that has a Layaway department and be an angel yourself!
Go out and do something for someone else and I bet you'll feel empowered and energetic and you'll smile knowing you put a smile on someone else's face today and for a long time to come. That is the gift of giving, the act of kindness stays with someone a long time... like the memory of a little four year old girl dancing around in circles in her pink chiffon little dress.
Little payments indeed bring great celebrations....they bring Moshiach :)
If I haven't inspired you, read some stories and watch the video and do some thing more in the realm of goodness and kindness in your neighborhood today!
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/complete-strangers-touched-altruistic-layaway-angels/story?id=15199745#.TvJOeDWmi8g
http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/More-layaway-angels-visit-local-Kmarts/bcgEeINDmkKacy4OPzE3qA.cspx
http://www.ksat.com/news/Layaway-angels-visit-Boerne-Wal-Mart/-/478452/6360122/-/b7hroj/-/
