HOLLY NADLER
508-693-3880
Who knew? Who knew that last Friday, Feb. 8 was Nirvana Day? This was itemized in my Pema Chodron calendar as an official Buddhist holiday. You won’t find this notated in mainstream American calendars, but if more of us had received a heads-up, we could have been walking around in states of transcendental bliss instead of just doing the usual — running to the post office, talking to Verizon automated voices, and working on our taxes.
But it’s not too late to climb aboard the joy wagon because, again according to Ms. Chodron, Feb. 10 to 17 is Random Acts of Kindness Week! Personally I haven’t yet rendered any good deeds that qualify as going the extra distance, but maybe others in our town have bestirred themselves. Anyone? And whatever happened to the proverbial good deed of helping an old lady across the street? Nowadays everyone is so independent that if you tried escorting some sweet old thing from one curb to another, you’d probably get smacked over the head with her walker.
Last summer when, like everyone else, I was constantly appalled by random acts of unkindness, I found myself one morning being mean as Oscar the Grouch. I was coming back from the post office with Huxley, who could tow a cement wagon single-handedly, on a leash in my right hand and, under my left arm, a box of books on top of which rested a pile of mail. Somewhere around Reliable Market the inevitable happened and the envelopes fluttered to the sidewalk. I glanced around in a panic. There was nowhere to set down the box, nor to tie, handcuff, or duct-tape Huxley to a tree. It had been a long time since I’d taken ballet lessons, so I quickly dismissed the notion of performing a perfect plié to pick up the mail, then an energeticrelevé to get back on my feet.
A man had stopped behind me and I knew rescue was at hand. “You dropped your mail,” he observed.
I wondered if he traveled around the world pointing out the obvious. I snapped, “And I guess you’re not going to pick it up for me!”
I turned to face him. He was somewhere in his late eighties. “I wish I could,” he moaned. “I just had hip surgery and I can’t bend down.”
In a fit of chagrin, I scrambled for my mail. Forget about ballet moves; I simply dove for the stuff and came up again without even thinking. Thank God this didn’t happen during Random Acts of Kindness Week or I’d have no hope of attaining next year’s Nirvana Day.
The big news from the usual suspects — the Oak Bluffs library and the Oak Bluffs School — is that this is Black History Month. Last Friday at the school, kids were given poster-sized paper to create an homage to a notable African American. Some suggested role models were Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, though I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the hipper kids paid tribute to Shaquille O’Neal, Denzel Washington or even rapper Fifty Cent.
At the library, the month is being celebrated by exhibiting relevant material in the main foyer, including the new acquisition of the African American National Biography. Check for other related events at oakbluffslibrary.org.
I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks in (hopefully) sunny California, so to send info to this town column, please get in touch with the mighty Tom Dresser by calling 508-693-1050 or sending him an e-mail at tomdresser@aol.com.
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