Being An Angel / Being The Miracle

The school that I give guitar lessons is near the corner of Crescent St. and 39th Ave. in Astoria. My apartment is near the corner of 44th St. and 25 Ave. I give the intersections so if you are interested, you can get an sense of the distance between the two on Mapquest. I know that it something like 1.2 miles from my apartment to work and then about 1.5 from my office to the school. I didn’t want to walk the 2.5+ miles home after my lesson so I take the N Train from 39th St. to Astoria Blvd.; thereby cutting about 2 miles from my walk home.

Coming off the train and as I start down the stairs that lead from the platform to the station, I notice a young mother behind me, struggling, as she tried to start down the stairs with an infant laden stroller. I quickly stopped, walked back up the steps and said, “Let me help you.” Even though she didn’t know who I was I could see the look of relief on her face. She nodded and said, “Thank you.” I went to the front of her strolling and held it by the bar between the front wheels while she held the top. We then progressed down the staircase.

Upon reaching the bottom I offered to help her down the next set of the stairs; the ones that went from the station to the street. Again, she said thank you and pointed to the staircase that she needed to go down. It was in the total opposite direction from where I needed to go, and would add some time to my walk home. We get to that staircase and repeat the process down the stairs. When we get to the sidewalk she tells me thank you again. I say, “You’re welcome. Have a great night!” And start walking in my direction home with a huge smile on my face.

Dr. Wayne Dyer has talked about studies that have shown when you are the recipient of an act of kindness your serotonin levels go up. Serotonin being the chemical that your body produces that makes you feel good and boosts your immune system. (I have written about it in a previous post.) The study also has shown that the giver of the act of kindness receives a boost in their serotonin levels. And then, surprisingly, it showed those around who saw the act of kindness had their serotonin levels go up. It makes sense because I felt great afterwards.

This reminded me of a memory from college and a discussion I had last week with a new friend. In college, I took part of Appalachia Service Project (A.S.P) for 3 of my 5 spring breaks. We would travel to Kentucky or Western Virginia and help rebuild the houses of people either too poor to do it themselves, or just physically unable, or a combination of the both. These areas were dirt poor. We’re talking third world country poor. We’re talking a woman with a blanket around her head, with a baby in her arms, crying by a broken brick wall poor. (There is only one person reading this that is going to get that reference. This ones for you!) And this is America. It is a outright shame that we have poverty like this in our country. Sure let’s have permanent tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, but let parts of our country live in conditions as bad as Africa. But I will get off my soapbox right now.

The point of this telling you about A.S.P. is that one trip we were working on a woman’s home and she was so thankful for the work that we were doing. At some point during the week she said that she had been praying to God for a miracle for so long, and that we were that miracle. Whoa, that is heavy stuff. To be someone’s miracle. . .is. . .just amazing. I mean, I was thinking when she said that, “Um, lady all we did was put of some sheet rock, hang some gutters, do some paints, put in a window, fix your floor. . .” Ok, so maybe we did a lot. And we weren’t getting paid to do it either. Instead of going to the beach we chose to come to the backwoods of Appalachia.

The discussion I had last week with a new friend had to do with the question of what I believed regarding angels since I didn’t believe in the devil. (The conversation is still going. The beauty of email.) In a nutshell, I said that I believe that angels and demons were the positive and negative energy we manifest and send out into the universe. And that those energies manifest physically in us, man. Basically, we are the angels and demons with our actions. For example, the man that caught you as you slipped and fell on the icy sidewalk was acting angelically. The man across the street that laughed at you was acting demonically.
Often, we don’t know when we are being an angel. The universe just uses us.

So last night I got to play angel as I helped the lady down the stairs. You could see in her face that she was praying for help as she started down those stars. What if more of us consciously made the choice to be more angelic than demonic? How much better do you think this world would be? How much warmer? Maybe we need to remind people of their jellical selves. (Theatre geeks will know were that word “jellical” comes from.)

Well ladies and gents, if you have read this far we’ve now come to your homework assignment. Yes, I, Professor Spider have homework for you. Now, now, no groaning! It consists of two parts.


1. If you have read this far I want you to comment and write briefly about how you have been an “angel” or helped with a “miracle” for someone in the past few weeks. Or you can write about how you were the recipient of some angelic help recently. If you haven’t been an angel to someone, think of ways that you can spread kindness in the coming weeks.

2. Forward this post to people you know and remind them to be an angel or help a miracle along for someone. Also, tell them to remind people they know to be an angel. I know this is a bit idealistic, like the movie Pay It Forward, but, hey, it’s spring and a time of renewal. It will be a good thing if we can spread a miracle or two.


Have fun with the homework, Class. See you next time.