Happy Holidays Everyone

(I can't say it better than this submission in Toronto's Globe and Mail by Farzana Hassan-Shahid who is the president of the Muslim Canadian Congress and author of the book titled Islam, Women and the Challenges of Today.

One good turn deserves another

As she helped me, and I tried to find a way to repay her, she looked at me with her blue eyes and said: 'Just pay it forward.'

The Wal-Mart in Mississauga can be a bustlingly busy place at Christmas or in the swelter of the summer -- or , indeed, at any time of year. It was on one of those hot summer days that I met Cindy in the busy parking lot of the massive department store.
For a while, she calmly observed the predicament I found myself in -- too many items, too little space in the trunk of my tiny vehicle -- and smiled occasionally. Perhaps she noticed my colourful South Asian garb and hesitated to make conversation with me. She may have thought I didn't know any English as the chatter in Urdu among my three children and niece was definitely beyond her ken.

Therefore, it was I who decided to break the cordial silence between us.
"We may have to make two trips to the house since we have so many items," I said.

"Where do you live?" she inquired. I told her I didn't live too far from the shopping mall.
"I can take you home," was her warm-hearted, instantaneous response. What a nice person, I thought.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Oh, of course. Just hop in and let me help you put some of your items in the trunk."
My three children were clearly intrigued by such instant generosity from a total stranger. I asked my son to drive my car and for them to follow us with the other items, one of which was a new area rug for my daughter's room.
During the 10-minute drive from Wal-Mart to my house, Cindy informed me that she was mother to seven children, three of whom were in her foster care. Only such a loving and kind woman could agree to foster three children, I thought.
Ranging from age 7 to 14, she must have her hands full -- but she still found time to do a perfect stranger an act of kindness.

She turned into my street and then into my driveway.

"Thank you so much, Cindy." I said, feeling somewhat inadequate about those words not doing justice to the spontaneous goodwill she had demonstrated toward me.
"I would very much like it if you came and met my family over a cup of tea. Let me at least offer you some tea," I said.
"I really have to get going to those children of mine," she responded with a smile. I thanked her again and invited her to come in once more. As she helped me unload my items, she looked at me through her wide blue eyes as she said: "Just pay it forward.
"Do someone else a good turn."
If we were all to adopt this as a motto for life, the world would indeed be a blessed place.

In today's world full of hostility, broken trusts, bigotry and rivalry, if we only learned to perpetuate simple acts of kindness, perhaps our troubled world would turn into a more peaceful and compassionate abode for all. Cindy made me realize that small acts of kindness could come with huge dividends if they were "paid forward."

She taught me a lesson that I wish to share with all caring individuals this Christmas season. I will probably never run into her again, but that blue-eyed, fair-haired woman who helped a strange woman from a visible minority in colourful South Asian garb, overcoming all barriers of race, language and ethnicity despite the mistrust and hostility that pervades our world -- she forever left an imprint on my mind.

Thank you, Cindy.