It was during the time that the Covid pandemic had dominated our lives for the first year. Each one of us was trying in every capacity to keep our minds sane and our bodies healthy! Looking at the state of the world, I felt that people needed tight hugs more than ever. And because of COVID, it was impossible. I realized, what could be better than handwritten letters to express love and warmth to people across all nations.

So I started a small initiative of writing letters to people. Anybody who felt their relatives, siblings, parents, neighbors, colleagues, or anyone needing a token of warmth and hope could just e-mail me a request to write a letter to that person. I have always loved writing letters and I felt I was doing my part in managing the pandemic along with staying indoors.

I had just written a couple of letters and after 3 days, I received a grocery delivery that I had ordered from Walmart. We have been ordering grocery deliveries for over a year at that time so it was nothing out of the ordinary.
When I opened the packages to sanitize the order, I saw one small bag with some goodies in it. I quickly opened my door to see if the delivery boy was still there so that I could return it since I hadn’t ordered anything in that bag.
I carefully checked if it had something important that the rightful owner would miss not being delivered to him. Upon opening the bag I found some cookies, chocolate, a protein bar, and most importantly, a card!

I opened the card and almost lost my breath. It said, “A small token to say hello. We are grateful to you.”

I was fixated on that spot for a good 10 minutes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I checked the entire bag once more and realized that it was a promotion by Walmart for express delivery which, by the way, we were already using. It could be a total coincidence that they were doing a promotion then, but we had been using Walmart for delivery for a year, and nothing like this ever happened before.

I sat by my door holding the card, trying to calm my breath. There was a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. I connected the dots and realized that the letters that I had been writing had a way of reaching out to me. It had just been 2 or 3 days, but apparently, those letters might have helped a lot to the receiver, and maybe that’s why I received such a card within 3 days.

I agree it was one of the most simple cards, but the emotions it laid bare within me were something that I still can’t express in words. I have always been a friend who goes out of the way for people. But lately, because of random experiences, I had started filtering my goodness. Upon receiving the card, I realized how foolish I was to filter the goodness that was right there within me. What use is it if not for people? It opened my eyes and made me realize that the world may try to screw your purity and goodness, but it is your responsibility to keep the torch burning. And I haven’t stopped since then!