"Be kinder than necessary"

Good thing I read my friend Darlene's blog post yesterday before going to the play last night.
She was reviewing the book, Wonder, by RJ Palacio.
She mentioned a quote from this book that I had heard before, "Be kinder than necessary."

Ever since last year when I saw Barefoot in the Park at this theater in the round,
I wanted to take Elora to the next play there so she could experience it....
since she loves theater so much.

So we made sure to get there an hour before it started,
as soon as the box office opened at 6:30.
I knew exactly which seats would be the best to get that upclose and personal feeling.


So we stood there and waited.
Okay, so maybe we got there a bit too early. But others soon joined us until they sold out!

But right before we were to go in, a lady and her granddaughter
I had seen sitting on a nearby couch all the time we had been standing in line,
came up and said they were here before us so they were first in line.
My first thought was how unfair, and even rude.
But thankfully that little voice in my head said, "Be kinder than necessary."

So we stood there, and talked to this pair and found out they been waiting at the theater since 3pm!
The grandmother thought she could get tickets but then found out the box office didn't open till 6:30
so I guess they waited outside till then.
Perhaps they were from out of town, I'm guessing....
because otherwise they would have gone home and come back at 6:30.

Since they were so determined to see this play I asked,
"So do you know someone who is preforming tonight?" They both said no.

Hmmmm....so then I wanted to say,
'Then why is it so important to you that you got here 4 1/2 hours before it started??'
But I didn't. It was about then that Elora whispered to me,
"That girl is blind, Grandma." I hadn't even picked up on that.

The play we saw was The Miracle Worker.
I'm guessing that Grandma was trying to do whatever she could
to share that play with her blind granddaughter.

"Be kinder than necessary" is my new motto.

The play was blow us away outstanding and Austin had a major role!
I will be back soon with pictures.


6 comments:

Karen Mortensen said...

Way to go Jill and Elora. Glad that all of you were able to see the play.

Anonymous said...

I love the Miracle Worker! Such a great play, and Austin was in it?? How wonderful for him.
darlene

Scrapally said...

we never made it to the play. i'm sure it was wonderful. That is a great motto and I need to "try a little harder to be a little better" that is MY quote from Pres. Hinckley I am working on. Can't wait to see your pictures!

Connie said...

This is a great story of kindness! Good for you! Glad you enjoyed the play.

grandmapeg said...

I love that saying, "Be kinder than necessary". I have had to do just that very thing this whole week, I just didn't have a name to put to it. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Lisa said...

Wow. I'm bummed that I didn't attend. Of course I never know when something is playing. I don't understand why you didn't just ask the questions. People typically love to talk about themselves & you are the queen of bringing it out of people! : ) Now I'm curious!

Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...