I forgot this morning. I simply failed to recall that I can’t start my day by reading details of how evil (I use that term very sparingly in life) human acts can be. In my usual feeds, there  was a news article with excessive details of the heinous crimes that were perpetrated over a period of decade (so painful even to write that – 10 years!) on three young women and a child in Ohio. It’s not that I try to ignore the news because it will ruin my mood. That attitude bugs me frankly. With women’s rights activist included on my list of “I am a”, I believe that we need to know so that we can be an instrument of change.

The problem is when I start my day like I did today – I become unable to – well do anything at all. And that is not useful to anyone.

Somehow, after a couple of hours of getting absolutely nothing done, I was able to move my despondent-self away from my laptop – since I wasn’t getting a frickin’ thing done anyway. And go to the grocery store – As pathetic as that sounds, it was progress. Parked my car and then crawled (metaphorically not literally, of course) through the sliding store door.

I almost missed them…But saw just enough out of the corner of my eye to walk back outside to find out what was up with the ladies in front of the grocery store surrounded by brown paper bags. They were collecting groceries for our local food pantry.

So I picked up dinner for my family and purchased some additional items from the list that I was given of needed goods at the food pantry. Being careful to put my version of a little equity in the bag by buying the same organic, higher quality mac & cheese (yes – still processed – can’t donate perishables) that my kids like.

On the way out, I gave two measly grocery bags to the ladies – real estate agents as it turned out – who decided to take a break from showing houses to do a little bit of good. Maybe they read the same article.

I left with a few groceries and a gift. I remembered that the only antidote to a downward spiral of any kind, but particularly about the very state of humankind, is to do the little (and ginormous too) good that you can do today.

I remembered (again) to take action swiftly – not to delay — before it’s too late to do something that matters. And most importantly, I remembered that I believe in my core – that good eventually will conquer evil every time.

So ladies at the grocery store, you simply rock. Thank you for letting me do that little insufficient act as it was the moment that renewed my focus and resolve — And reminded me that even my inadequate efforts are better than doing nothing at all.  And maybe if I’m lucky, when strung together with a vision can create extraordinary change.

So what’s the takeaway? When feeling down, before you go for a massage, have a glass of wine, say an affirmation, take a nap or call your BFF, do this instead:

Step away from the computer and buy a kid some food. (Or take another of the one million other actions that you can to reach out to a fellow human.)