Evidence of spiritual awakening?

On December 21, 2012, some predicted that the end of an era described by ancient Maya would be the end of the world. Others believed that it was only the beginning of a new era of greater spiritual understanding, while some believed that nothing out of the ordinary would happen. I watched a couple of documentaries about the predictions and read a few articles saying that the Maya prophecies were blown out of proportion and had little relation to the actual beliefs of the ancient Maya. I didn't expect much change on December 21, but I did allow myself to imagine that perhaps my own spiritual awakening was related to or brought about by this wider cultural shift which many were fantasizing about. And I don't blame people for fantasizing, because who doesn't want a spiritual awakening that brings about an end to violence and hate in the world?

 There is an interesting (but not very well-written) article on the NASA website which debunks many of the myths and ideas about astronomical changes which were supposed to take place on December 21, 2012.

 Predictions and myths aside, how would we know if a spiritual awakening had taken place? I suppose that we would all start seeing more good things happening, more positivity in the world and in fellow humans and fewer negative and violent occurrences such as mass shootings, wars, genocide, etc. So tonight, I want to share two experiences I've had in the last week which can serve as evidence of goodness in the world--trust me, I know that two random experiences don't really mean very much in the global scheme of things.  But because I have never had either of these experiences before, I can say that they've been happening more on a personal scale than they did prior to December 21st.  I do not claim that there is anything new or strange about the stories I am about to share--I've read many news articles about similar actions of good Samaritans. The difference here is that the stories happened to me. Furthermore, after posting a few weeks ago (see "scammed" from 12/2/12) about experiencing a robbery at work, there is a refreshing air to these stories.  And should you begin to have doubts about my credibility, please understand that I'm using these experiences to describe a new theme in my life over the past week--not truly to prove that a spiritual awakening has occurred.

The first experience happened on the evening of December 21.  As I was driving home from dinner, I hit a patch of ice on the highway, fishtailed, and went off the road. While I was still fiddling with my phone trying to figure out whom to call, a couple stopped and helped me try to push my car out of the ice and snow on the side of the road. When that didn't work they gave my son and me a ride home. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you so much to Drew and Lindsey from North Liberty, Iowa. You helped me out so much, and I am so appreciative of your kindness.

On Monday, December 24, I was at Kmart in Urbandale, Iowa buying my son his Christmas presents for the next day. I had previously purchased him one gift, which he had found in the closet on the Friday before Christmas. Other than that I had only purchased him a pass to the museum. I didn't have anything for him to unwrap on Christmas Day and for various reasons I only had $60 to spend, which I had to borrow. Meanwhile, I was planning to spend Christmas morning at my parents' house with my younger sister and her daughter. My sister had purchased about 25 gifts for her daughter to unwrap. I'm not a materialistic person, and not a fan of using Christmas as an excuse to spoil children, but the idea of seeing my son, who's three, watch his cousin open 25 gifts while he had one was really hard for me. (Don't think badly of my sister who is competing a bit with her ex while she goes through a divorce. Her ex's present for my niece was, among other things, a giant trampoline.) 

So I spent a couple of hours at Kmart narrowing down my options and including several $1-$5 gifts in my cart. Before I went up to the counter I took out all of the items with price tags over $15 and left them in the toy area. I figured I would buy as many of the cheaper gifts as I possibly could and abandon the others in the cart at the register. I explained to the cashier that I was using cash and only wanted to spend $60. When I reached that amount, there were still four items in the cart: a football, a basketball, an Ironman mask, and a box of play-doh. The man behind me, who was buying one Barbie asked me who was going to get those toys and I responded that nobody would anymore. He said "throw them up there, I'll cover them." I'm sure that I turned bright red. I didn't know what to say. Here was this man buying one Barbie for his seven-year-old granddaughter and willing to pay whatever it cost to buy four toys for an unnamed or several unnamed children. I felt a little bit guilty and materialistic for buying my son so many items. The four items rang up to $25 and the man handed the cashier the money and winked at me (and here I also imagine I saw a Santa Claus-style twinkle in his eye) as I thanked him again before leaving.

Writing and thinking about it makes me want to cry. The only thing that I can do in return is to pay it forward. I've never been an especially charitable person but I've talked with a friend about her own reflections on how people develop a philanthropic lifestyle. I think that being in the situations I was in on Friday and on Monday and having Drew and Lindsey, and the man who I will refer to as "the real St. Nick" come to my rescue, I think that those experiences are the best education.  And I hope that others that read this post will also go forward and do something kind for someone in need.