ACTS OF KINDNESS: All around, if we pay attention

As my wife and I walked our beagle, Huckleberry, in the neighborhood recently, we spotted a Coeur d’Alene Garbage truck stopped along East McFarland Avenue.

The garbage man had left the cab and was approaching a frightened little dog huddled against the curb. The driver had a treat in his hand. The pup, an older mixed breed, went limp as the stranger slowly lifted it from the pavement.

The driver was checking the pup’s tags as Mrs. O and I approached. He asked if we knew who owned the dog. We weren’t sure. But I knocked at the nearby door of an old-timer who’d lived in the area for decades. The octogenarian answered and was thrilled that a stranger had saved his pet.

After handing the dog back to its owner, the driver told Mrs. O and I that he keeps treats in his cab for occasions like this when he sees a pooch that obviously has wandered from its home.

We thanked the driver for his kindness to the aged pet owner and for the great job that he and his company do weekly in hauling off our trash.

It’s easy to get caught up in our troubling times and toxic politics and forget what a special place this is — one where daily acts of kindness are performed by unheralded guardians.

DAVE OLIVERIA

Coeur d’Alene