What do you think?

[omahas]

I need some advice, or maybe just some commiseration regarding this issue. We used to live in a society where people in your community would do nice things, and you wouldn't question it. They did it because they were nice, and that was that. But that was years--no decades--ago.

Now everwhere society tells you that if someone does something nice for you, you should suspect it, and more importantly suspect the ones who have been nice. And so I am in a bind as far as my emotions are concerned regarding a couple of recent events.

Kouryou-chan and I take the bus a lot. I have to use the bus to take her in the morning to her school, and in the afternoon to pick her up. And everywhere we go, people are constantly talking about how cute Kouryou-chan is, what a sunny disposition she has, what a good and well-tempered girl, etc.

A couple of them have chosen to make their affections for a little girl known in other ways.

There is a small car repair place on the corner where we get off the bus and wait for the bus to go home. This place has been there for ages (since the fifties) and the current owners are members of the community. The owner and his wife fell in love with Kouryou-chan one day when she got all upset trying to figure out what an awning was, and kept misunderstanding me when I tried to explain it to her (the place has an awning with the business name on it).

Several days later, after I had dropped Kouryou-chan off in the morning at school and had come back to wait for the bus, the owner and his wife came by and talked to me about it, and mentioned that they had been walking in the store the day before and saw a little bunny rabbit that reminded them of her, and they picked it up for her because they wanted to see her smile. They asked my permission to give it to her that afternoon when we passed by their place.

They gave me no feelings of wanting to do anything other than make a little girl happy, and I was impressed with them asking permission first, so I said yes. She was indeed happy, and since then they have done nothing other than to wave hello as we pass by each day.

The other incident was today. An older woman who I've seen on the bus before and is friendly and known by several other regulars on the bus as well had been talking to Kouryou-chan (well, in amongst talking to someone else...Kouryou kept interjecting her ideas and thoughts into the conversation ;) The woman has several sons, and one of them is the father of a girl, and Kouryou-chan apparently reminds her of her granddaughter a lot. So when we got off the bus today, she gave me a $20 bill and said, "Oh, get her something nice, she reminds me so much of my granddaughter."

These all seem to be normal, everyday people who just want to make a little girl happy, who like to see the little smile on the little face. I myself have found that smile on my face when seeing a child near Kouryou-chan's age walking down the street with their parent, or playing in a park, and felt a welling of joy in my heart. Each of the people mentioned above didn't have their own young children to be around now. The married couple didn't have children (indeed, the wife said until he'd met Kouryou, the husband wasn't all that interested in kids), and the older lady probably doesn't get to see her granddaughter nearly as often as she'd like to and never had a daughter.

But I keep thinking to myself, is there something wrong with accepting these gifts from these people? Are the gifts inappropriate? Do I think they are inappropriate because they are, or because society has made me paranoid? Am I missing the opportunity to appreciate the members of my local community, and let some people who just want to make a little girl happy do it?

Any thoughts?

Comments

Concerns

[slutdiary.livejournal.com]

I think these were individual instances of nice people doing nice things, viewed in contrast to a malignant society.