Do the Next Right Thing

Early afternoon saw me driving from home to my office, not more than five minutes away. A creature of habit, I usually take the same route, however today, I decided I’d get some Starbucks coffee. The plan sounded solid.

As I sat at a red light, I saw a little green grasshopper, whom I will name Charlie, land on my truck’s hood. He fluttered down without much event and began moving his legs and antennae. I said to no one in my truck, “Charlie, you are going to regret landing there!”

The light turned green. I pulled out slowly and didn’t go above 22 miles per hour. I drove with one eye monitoring Charlie’s efforts to hang on and the traffic around me.

As I approached the second red light, I thought for sure Charlie would jump off and head back to wherever he needed to go. He and his brilliant green needed to be in some grass somewhere, not on a metal truck, in the heat of the day.

Shortly after thinking this, and wondering why the light was taking so long to change, my eyes drifted up to the van in eyesight from Charlie. It read, “Do the next right thing” and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, my calling.

Not speeding up, I slowly turned into the shopping center’s vast parking lot, somewhat abandoned due to closures, and pulled up near the grassy section. I stepped out of the truck and there, on the hood, Charlie and all his proud green clothing, sat looking at me.

With a small wave of my hand to give him a bit of a surprise, he lifted in flight and fluttered off to the green grassy area. I smiled as I saw his descent into the lawn.

The next right thing was freeing a little green grasshopper. What is your next right thing? Random acts of kindness remind us to embrace the tender, gentle acts so we pay life forward. I felt happier after Charlie landed in his grassy home. As fleeting as happiness is, I cherished and mindfully embraced my gift of life to a helpless little creature.

~Just a thought by Pamela

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Previously pukblished on medium

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