Unanticipated Benefits of Walking With a Cane

 

I've met so many kind and helpful people since I began to use a cane. Does living in a small town have something to do with it? Perhaps, but I hope not.

Here are a few examples from the post office:

There are two sets of doors leading into our local post office. One day, a handsome older gentleman walked a bit ahead of me through the two doors. Then I saw him bend over something, which turned out to be the backside of the lock on the last of the two doors. By now that door had closed. 

I opened and carefully walked through the door and asked the man what he was doing. "Oh," he said," I was just trying to open the door for you. But I couldn't get a grip on this lock." 

Well, he would have had to pull the door open. And if you've seen the backside of a large door lock, you know it's pretty flat and there's no chance you will ever be able to pull a heavy door open by grabbing it. 

But it was a lovely try and I thanked him for it.

Another time, a teenage girl came running past me and I wondered why she was in such a hurry. When she reached the doors, she stopped, waited and held both doors open for me. 

Finally, after I picked up a rather heavy package and had some trouble holding it and the cane, a small boy, about seven years old, came up to me and asked if he could carry the package for me. 

I told him the package was very heavy, so maybe not, but perhaps he could run ahead and hold the doors open for me. The little boy just lit up with a huge grin, ran ahead and held both doors open for me. 

I thanked him profusely and told him he was a really great kid. 

He just smiled a big smile and I think we both made each other's day, that time in our local post office.