Stopped By Kindness

“Why did you allow Elizabeth to belittle you like that?” Helen demanded, taking her seat beside Annisa at the lunch table. “What she did to you was cruel and thoughtless!”

“What is going on with her?” Annisa adds, glancing around as a waiter approaches. “She has been so spiteful to everyone lately.”

Reeling from the shock of what has just transpired, “She wasn’t always like this. She used to have a kind heart,” Emma shared in surprise.

“The regular ladies?” the waiter asked, three menus in his hands.

All three females nodded, and he turned away, heading towards the kitchen.

“So?” Helen fired back. “She didn’t have to behave in such a vicious manner.”

“That means something is wrong with her,” slipped out of Emma’s thoughts.

“Girl, why must you always find excuses for other people’s bad behavior?” Helen scolds Emma.

Annisa agreed, “You need to see others for who they are.”

“She wasn’t always like that,” Emma defends.

“People change,” Helen said.

“There is always a reason for everything,” Emma explained.

“Keep believing that and see where it takes you?” Helen warned.

“I will,” slipped out unconsciously, and Emma quickly covered her mouth.

Helen flashed her an annoying look as the waiter approached with their order.

After lunch, Emma’s eyes scanned the scene when her two co-workers went back inside. Then grab a quick look at the clock over the entrance, “I still have five minutes,” she said to herself. Elizabeth sat alone, her back to her a few tables to the right. Strolling over to her, Emma stood facing her, staring while reading her emotions.

“Get out of my face!” she cried out, standing up. Emma eased towards her, hugging her tightly. Elizabeth fought back as one fighting hatred. Emma held on with the help of kindness.

Minutes later, Elizabeth stopped struggling and almost went limp in her arms. Emma held on, leading her to the nearest chair. Then slowly helped her to sit. Kneeling in front of her, as tears burst through her eyelids, Elizabeth wails, “I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I am losing my mind. I can't control my impulses. I am making lots of mistakes because of my wrong decisions, and I don’t know why?”

Taking her hands, staring into her eyes, Emma consoled, “Then let’s find out together. You always have a kind heart. I will help you get it back.”

One month and various tests later, Emma and three family members of Elizabeth waited with her in her room in the St. Theresa’s Memorial Hospital for the results of her MRI.

Philip Anglin and Dr. Sara Hill entered the room, introducing themselves. Their smile wasn’t persuasive as suspense held on to five pairs of eyes.

Feeling the anxiety reeling from their stare, Dr. Sara Hill let the truth out. “We found a small tumor in her brain.”

Elizabeth screamed as Emma hugged her. Elizabeth’s Mom let out a whimper, slowly slipping to the ground. Anna, her eldest daughter, and Joseph, her son, held on to her, pulling her up towards the chair beside the hospital bed.

“It’s a small tumor in the frontal lobe of the brain.” The doctors waited for the weeping to pause and continued when it did, “We think it’s in the early stages. So we will remove it, and your daughter will be able to continue living a full and healthy life.”

“How did you know she had a tumor?” Anna asked.

“Excuse me,” Dr. Hill eased her upper body backward.

“Sorry, Doc,” Anna apologized. “I am asking Emma. My sister’s friend.”

Emma caressed Elizabeth’s hand and answered as everyone stared at her, “I didn’t. I have known her for two years, and she is the kindest human I have met.”

Both doctors traded looks, and Emma continued. “She wasn’t herself. She was never nasty or unfriendly to anyone, and when she started that behavior, my heart told me that something was wrong.”

“She was the only one who didn’t chastise or tried to harm me, no matter how horrible I was to her. Why didn’t you?” Elizabeth questioned, teary-eyed while squeezing Emma’s left hand.

“All of your past kindness towards me stopped me from being unkind to you.”

Her words pulled the guilt from the hearts of various family members who apologized.

Dr. Hill strolled closer to Emma curiously; she asked, “her kindness towards you stopped you from returning the cruelty she gave you?”

Elizabeth held on to her friend’s hands as if it was a life support machine.

Dr. Hill notified, “Studies in cognitive science have shown that damage to the frontal lobe in the brain impairs one’s ability to make a decision. The right decision,” she stressed.

“So that’s why my sister was being so heartless and vicious?” Anna pushed out. “She had a brain tumor?”

“Yes,” both Doctors agreed, eying Emma. “That contributed to her personality changes and increased aggression. You saved her life.”

“You have known her for only two years. All of us have known her all of her life,” Anna remarked, her eyes on Emma.

“She is my best child,” her Mom shared, wiping away tears as she eased back into the chair. “I never had to punish her for misbehaving all of her twenty-eight years. She was always good. I am her mother. I should have suspected that something was off with her.”

“Someone will always turn back and return the kindness they get,” Emma said.

“How could you be so aware?” Anna wondered aloud. “You don’t know her long enough.”

“I was raised to check the heart first of the people with whom I associate. Your sister had a beautiful one.”

“So, what do you do after?” Anna challenged.

“If it’s good, then I stick around,” Emma confessed.

“So if it’s bad, you don’t?”

“Yes,” Emma stressed. “I know kindness. My Mom said, when you receive it, return it. If someone is kind to you all of the time, and one time they aren’t, use their past acts of generosity to forgive them. Then find the reason for their change of attitude. Our bodies are not different from fruits. Fruits rot for a reason. Kindness goes bad for a reason.”

“Your mother sounds like someone who understood the value of kindness,” Dr. Hill suggested.

“Yes,” Emma agreed. “She took the time to teach me about compassion and encouraged me to return it. She often said, “when cruelty enters a kind heart, humanity must take the time to find out why and then get rid of it. Kindness must never be allowed to die!”

Tears flowed from every eye, and Dr. Hill shared, “Kindness does possess the power to forgive all acts of cruelty.”

“Along with great friendship,” Elizabeth adds, hugging Emma.

Use all past acts of kindness to forgive.

I was inspired to write this by someone who always showed me kindness. Then one day, they stopped. I watched her transformation, and I wondered. No, she didn’t have a brain tumor, but something terrible happened to her. She is better now.

Please, be aware and alert of the thoughtful people’s actions, choices, and decisions in your life. There is a good reason for everything. That little thought could save a life.

Can Brain Tumors Cause Mood Changes?

Yes they can. Brain tumors often cause personality changes and sudden mood swings.

https://moffitt.org/cancers/brain-tumor/symptoms/mood-changes/

Thank you for reading this piece. I hoped you enjoyed it.