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To the Stranger Who Moves My Trash Bins for Me

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I’m going to start this post with a story. A tale of generosity. A tale of kindness. A tale of sacrifice.

A tale… of wheelie bins.

Now I live by myself (can I get an aww?), which means I’m in charge of doing all the household jobs one must do. One of these tasks is worse than the rest:

Putting out the bins on Monday morning (or trash cans for all you folks reading this from across the pond).

When I first moved in, I’d wheelie the bin on to the pavement before setting off to work, only to find it plonked right in the middle of my driveway when I returned home. This meant I had to get out of the car, wheel it back into place, get back in the car and park on my drive.

Might not sound like much of an effort, but when I’m fatigued after a hard day’s graft, this can be a massive task.

For the first month of me moving in, the bin was always there. In the same inconvenient place each week.

But then, a hero emerged.

I returned home one Monday to find my bin already returned to its rightful position, no longer an obstacle to my rush to get into bed. I was overcome with joy and appreciation. Who was this mystery mover who had provided me with such salvation??

I thought it might be a one off, but now, every time I pull into my street, I see that my bin has been relocated without me having to lift a finger.

Pretty tear-jerking, right?

Now, whoever my anonymous associate is probably doesn’t see this as a big deal. I doubt they even think twice about it. To them, it’s just a 30-second job that causes them no distress.

But to me it means the world.

That one small kindness honestly makes my entire day. I can’t help but smile with joy when I see that my bin has been moved on my behalf.

This got me thinking about how something that seems so small to one person can mean so much to another.

It inspired me to be a better person.

I pledged to myself to try and do one small thing for someone else each day. Something as simple as buying them a coffee on my way to work, telling them how good they look, what a good job they’ve
done or even just giving them a nice smile.

I’ll try and do this even when I’m filled with MS and feeling awful. When all I want to do is be selfish, stay in bed and ignore everyone around me.

But even with MS I can do these little things.

And who knows, maybe I’ll make somebody’s day…

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Originally published: October 31, 2017
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