The Kindness of Strangers: 12 (Wising Up Anthologies)

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS A Wising Up Anthology Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett EditorsThe kindness of strangers . . . It isnt earned. It isnt a right. It cannot happen in the same way in the same place twice. It can change your life. Even if we sometimes cant remember it clearly in times of conflict or unmet need we have all experienced the kindness of strangers either in the giving or receiving most often in both. It makes a difference it resets us somehow so that the give and take of circumstance our own vulnerabilities and fears are less consuming world-defining. It presumes the simplest and most radical kind of similarity: shared humanity and good faith. It isnt the least naive. It stands up to scrutiny indeed expands flowers with the attention we give it even when the act is small the consequences not what we intended.In this collection forty-eight contemporary writers explore through stories memoir and poetry how the kindness of strangers has informed and transformed their lives. They describe how we are often surprised into kindness; discover unexpected abilities and compatibilities new identities and inner freedom through it; how we retreat from it; act on it at times grudgingly; are saved by it in times of illness; and through its practice find ourselves often without noticing developing larger and more sustaining communities and an unanticipated sense of belonging.CONTRIBUTORS: Susan Austin Rachel Squires Bloom Katie Glauber Bush William Cass Laura Chaignon Teetle Clawson Susan Clayton-Goldner Shireen Day Norita Dittberner-Jax Alethea Eason Rupert Fike Meia Geddes Frank Haberle Patrick Cabello Hansel Stephanie Hart Margaret Hasse Paul Hostovsky Lowell Jaeger Pauline Kaldas Murali Kamma Jennifer Schomburg Kanke John King Laurie Klein Norman Klein Steve Koppman Rick Krizman Robert J. Kus Linda Maxwell Jessica Naab Jason A. Ney Marianne Peel Dorothy Oliver Pirovano MK Punky Wilderness Sarchild George J. Searles Patti See Pegi Deitz Shea Karen Skolfield Darcy Smith Ken Staley Rebecca Taksel Jennifer Thornburg John Timm Johnny Townsend Gina Valdés Anusha VR Joel Wachman Jana Zvibleman