“In lieu of flowers or memorial donations, Mr. Reade requested for acts of kindness to be given to someone in need.”

So read the obituary of Bill Reade, my neighbor and friend.

Always with a happy smile and gregarious hello, Bill was the epitome of kindness.

Within a short time of moving into our “neighborhood” Bill became a well loved fixture in the community.

He knew everyone by name and always asked about the particulars of a life he’d come to know because he was truly interested in knowing people.

His background was as vast and diverse as the sky but it was his final request that summed up the man like no words ever could.

“In lieu of flowers or memorial donations, Mr. Reade requested for acts of kindness to be given to someone in need.”

When I read the two column obituary, I discovered some things about Bill I hadn’t known, and found comfort in reading the things I already knew. He was in the Navy in the years before I was even born. He was active in his church. He taught Bridge to the folks at the Senior Center in our town. And he won several medals in the Senior Olympics for, of all things, badminton. (That one really made me smile.)

As my friend Mary said, “He was a wonderful and active man.” Indeed.

But his last wish is the thing that touched me the most. He asked us all to commit acts of kindness to those in need. What greater gift could we give one another but to be kind?

It’s such a simple request and oh so easy to fulfill. Holding a door open for someone, offering a line cut to someone with only a few items, and stopping for pedestrians crossing the street are just a few ways to bring acts of kindness into our lives. Volunteering at a Senior Center, offering a compliment or hug to someone who looks like they could really use one, and taking the time to listen, really listen to someone who needs to talk after having lost a loved one are kind acts of a deeper level.

As the holidays approach, let’s give Bill his last request, let’s all take a moment to be kind to one another because when you think about it, we’re all in need of acts of kindness, and we should all be so lucky to have someone like Bill to give them to us.

<*(((>< 

Copyright 2008 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach

Photo credit: Diana Taylor, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina

Thanks Bill, it was great knowing you.