All people we meet are our neighbors

All people around us are of worth. All people we meet are our neighbors.

Today, I decided for the first time in a years time now, to go downstairs to our laundry room that exist in our house to do some laundry.  We have been blessed with having a washer/dryer combo in our house, but for some reason I chose to use the landlords laundry facility.

Fokusskolans valentine's wall.

To my surprise, there was an opening first thing this morning although I knew I have my 'booking pin' in the first day/last laundry pass, of each month as a safeguard.  I got the laundry started and it was happily washing and drying itself while I got wrapped up in Indexing history work from the US 1800s.  Saving the records from the past.

This is what my son Anïas and I now love to do together.

 

I looked at the time and realized that I had gone past my allotted laundry time with 5 minutes and hurried down into the laundry room.  Outside of the door stood a beautiful, very colorful young woman in classic Muslim attire.  Next to her on the floor stood her detergents and a neatly sheet-wrapped bundle of clothes to wash. I came up next to her and smiled as I apologized for being tardy.  I gave an honest account for what I had been doing and picked up her detergents as I followed her inside.  She stopped for a moment and placed her things on the floor and smiled.  In a very broken Swedish she told me 'all is well' -- Ai-Shallah.

 We were both very cheerful that all is well and went on with our laundry, but as it turns out there was a third person in this drama.  Sitting far to the wall was another young Swedish woman.  She was noticeable frustrated at my laundry, and halted my company to stop with her laundry.

 The women sort out who is supposed to do the wash.  This Swedish woman spoke with a loud and stressed voice so the other woman had a hard time to follow her directions and understand what was going on.  This made this woman more frustrated and she spoke more feverishly and with arms and fingers articulating what was going on while the other woman shrunk down and backed off.

I calmly walked up behind the two, staring at the board.  Explaining that all is well, as I took out my ‘booking pin’ that had so selfishly been ‘pinned’ in a spot all these months but never used.

This other woman could take the spot over and wash her family’s clothes today as she had planned.  She did not know about the leap year, thus her time was yesterday.  She labored intensively in forming questions related to the booking board and laundry room.  I patiently waited for her to finish all she wanted to say and answered in a way which she would feel comfortable.
 As we were leaving, once again smiling, we both offered up our apologies to this other flustered woman.  We helped each other out of the laundry room and before we parted ways, she tugged me gently at the sleeve of my arm.
-Thank you, she said and tipped her head a bit.  Do you live here?
-I smiled back and nodded, pointing up at the ceiling with my finger. -On the first floor.

And there we were.  She is waiting for the elevator, me walking up the stairs.  All was well.

All the irritations in the world are unable to withstand acts of genuine friendliness and kind patience.  It undoubtedly spreads a feeling of cheer and awakes patience in those who partake of it.  All people around us are of worth. All people we meet are our neighbors.