Donald Trump is once again wreaking havoc in the White House. Anger and hatred abound. Me? I’m out there spreading the love and kindness one tangerine at a time.

We have several different types of fruit trees in our backyard but a little tangerine tree is by far the most prolific of them all. Measuring about three feet high by around six feet wide this “tree” is actually just a bush. A month ago there was so much fruit on it, it looked more orange than green. Most years the branches get so laden with fruit that I have to prop them up to prevent breakage. These tangerines begin to ripen around the beginning of December, as I write this there is still fruit to pick. Their flavor is simply out of this world, the perfect balance of sweet and tart. We never buy tangerines in the store. No matter how fresh they proclaim to be, a store-bought could never measure up to one from our tree.

While I’m out and about I always try and carry a few extra tangerines with me to randomly give away. The kid checking me in at the pool for my lap swim? He gets one. My yoga teacher gets one too. The guy who sold me my new shoes the other day got one. If I’m stopped at a light and see someone down on their luck with a sign I tangerine them. Sometimes if I’m walking down the street I’ll just choose a random person and lay one of these golden beauties on them. My tangerine recipients at first seem surprised, then a smile usually spreads across their face when I lay one in the palm of their hand. I don’t think random acts of kindness like this happen very often to people, especially coming from a stranger so I understand how someone might not know what to make of it. I never expect anything in return, it just feels good to do something selfless and to add a little ray of sunshine to someone’s day.  In a small way I’m paying it forward. Perhaps this tangerine, given freely from a stranger, will inspire that person to do something kind for someone else, and so on and so on.

I can’t just sit back and watch as the shadow of meanness and anger spreads across our country. I refuse to give in to despair! There’s very little of this shit show that I have control over so I’m going to focus on the things that I can control; like how I treat others, what kind of energy I put out into the world and the types of positive change that I can effect in my own community. There’s plenty of goodness all around us and I’m doing my level best to remind people of that, one tangerine at a time.