Several Random Acts of Kindness

At the Memorial Day Service today, I witnessed several acts of kindness.  I was sitting in the sun. It was warm, but not so bad.  I women whom I did not know came up and stood beside me and angled her parasol so she and I both benefited from the shade.

Part way through the ceremony, an elderly woman seemed to be overcome with the heat.  Her friend was trying to get her out of the sun, but the woman could not go very far. They sat her in the shade.  The woman with the parasol gave me her parasol to hold and went to help.  She handed me her cup and took the parasol to shade the woman.  Several of the

Veterans in the crowd moved in, and the woman  with the parasol asked for ice.  They did not have ice but brought several bottles of ice water, and cloths.  They put a bottle behind the affected woman's neck, wet the clothe to cool her face, and wet her hands. They took her shoes off and wet her feet too. 

The woman recovered sufficiently enough to sing God Bless America at the end of the ceremony. She felt well enough to drive home, and one of the Veterans went to get her car, and drove it close in to where the ceremony was.  He also left the air conditioning running in her car.

It turned out the Vet who took charge was an EMT, and the lady who asked for ice was a retired LVN.  Everyone who watched thanked them for their help and service, although we did not know the woman.

The interesting part was that the hostess of the event never seemed to notice or acknowledge what was happening in the audience.  Weird.