“You know how I like to have a cup of tea before getting on a plane?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, before boarding I ran over to the Starbucks, but it was closing…”
Karen is calling from LAX, she’s flying to New York. I dropped Karen off at the airport twenty minutes ago and already this is our second phone conversation.
“By the way,” she adds, “where are you now?”
“Just pulling into the driveway.”
It’s just Casa Avrech and yours truly for the next few days. When Karen is gone I spend a lot of time wandering around the house, going from room to room like a nightwatchman making rounds.
“The hot tea?”
“Right, so the Starbucks is closing and I run up to the Starbucks guy and tell him that I need hot water—not even a tea bag.”
Karen carries her own tea bags in her little leather backpack.
“What happened?”
“He got me the hot water. He could have just closed up, I mean I was just one customer.”
“He decided to be nice.”
“So I said to him: ‘How much do I owe you?’ And he said, get this: ‘Just a smile.’”
“Get out.”
“Really. Just a smile. That’s all I owed him.”
“So, did you smile?”
Karen pauses:
“I don’t know. I was so shocked that I’m not sure I gave him his smile. Robert, I’m telling you, I felt like I was in a Frank Capra movie.”
Sad really, that the most basic courtesy/kindness is so completely unnerving and unexpected.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
8 Comments
There are hours when the LAX Starbucks is closed? I would have thought they stayed open 24/7/365.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
On the other hand acts of kindness these days really get noticed – as Karen did.
I am not Jewish – would that qualify as a “mitzvah”?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Jack:
I also end up sitting on Karen’s side of the couch when I read and watch TV. Very comforting.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Johnny:
Almost every one of my Hollywood friends worship Frank Capra. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t consider him a master. A few months ago I caught his “American Madness” on TCM and it was just amazing.
As for Yale Univ. becoming willing dhimmis, well, no surprise there, like so many American universities they have accepted multi-million dollar donations from the Saudis thus their, ahem, Middle Eastern Studies Departments are sewers of Jew-hatred and dhimmitude.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Exdem:
We find angels in the most unexpected places:-)
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Periodically I find myself in a similar situation to that which you described. Wife and kids leave and I have the house to myself.
While I very much enjoy the quiet I often find myself working in odd places, such as the playroom. It is kind of comforting.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Capra always seem to be overlooked when people talk about great American directors because people always thought his corny feel good movies weren’t as serious as what a Hitchcock or Ford produced. But like a great 3 minute pop song, a movie that pulls on your emotions as well as Wonderful Life or John Doe is not easy. It Happened One Night is often imitated, rarely duplicated.
Watching If You Could Only Cook on TCM last night Robert Osborne told the story of Columbia putting A Frank Capra Production on the European release of the movie even though Capra had nothing to do with it. It led to Capra leaving the studio he had saved with IHON but seems inconceivable today.
Yesterday Discovery showed The Flight That Fought Back again and it reminded me of people calling their loved ones when they are flying and how precious those moments can become. It also angered me again because so many people, still to this day, blame us for the attack. And how we are still waiting for all those peaceful Muslims around the world to speak out against bin Laden and thank George Bush for freeing more Muslims than any other world leader. And also knowing that because most of those on the 4 flights were from liberal bastions like San Fran or New York, they would likely be among the terror apologists wanting Bush and Cheney to be jailed for the EITs used at Gitmo.
When Yale University censors the Mohammed cartoons you just have to shake your head and wonder if anyone in academia knows what happened on 9-11. It seems it is one step closer to bin Laden’s goal of having us live under sharia.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
” … “I don’t know. I was so shocked that I’m not sure I gave him his smile. Robert, I’m telling you, I felt like I was in a Frank Capra movie.” … Sad really, that the most basic courtesy/kindness is so completely unnerving and unexpected. ”
but,
you never know,
the last ‘ding/other sound” when he closed the Starbuck’s store, could have been an angel getting his wings …
Like or Dislike:
0 
0