The Soul of America

In recent days, I’ve found myself wondering if the soul of America is corrupt. And then I run across a story that embodies the best of the American soul and it restores my hope. There’s also a synchronicity involved in this. The story is from CNN.

“When Antonio Gwynn Jr. saw the damage from protests in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, he grabbed a broom, bought some trash bags and started cleaning the streets by himself.

“He started at 2 a.m. on Monday and did not stop cleaning for the next 10 hours. When an organized group of neighbors arrived later that morning to start clearing the damage, they found that Gwynn had already done most of the work.

Gwynn is an 18-year-old high school senior. He told CNN that he saw on the local news that Bailey Avenue in Buffalo was covered in glass and garbage, and he knew people needed to use that street to get to work in the morning.

“When word spread of how Gwynn single-handedly took action, his community responded.”

Here’s what happened. Matt Block, 27,  saw Gwynn’s story on the news and and saw that Gwynn had asked for car buying advice on Facebook, and decided to give him his 2004 red Mustang convertible. And here’s the synchronicity: Gwynne’s mom, who had passed in 2018, also drove a red Mustang. Gwynn was so shocked at the coincidence he “didn’t have words” and Block says it “gave him goosebumps.” That’s the impact  powerful synchros often have, a physical, visceral reaction.

But the story doesn’t stop there.

A local businessman, Bob Briceland, heard about Block’s gift. So he offered Gwynn a year of free auto insurance coverage through his insurance agency. “I just felt compelled to help him out. We just need to get together our whole city and show people how there’s so many good people here,” Briceland told CNN’s affiliate WKBW.

“After high school, Gwynn had planned to go to trade school while saving up to go to college. Upon hearing Gwynn’s story, Medaille College in Buffalo offered him a full scholarship where he plans to study business in the fall.”

Think about this. A kid  single-handedly sweeps and cleans up a street trashed during the protests because the people in his town need to use the road to get to work the next morning. He sweeps and cleans for TEN hours. And people in his community step up to show their appreciation – the red Mustang, the year’s worth of insurance, and a full college scholarship. And in the middle of all this is the powerful synchronicity concerning the red Mustang.

Whatever the source of synchronicity – god, the universe, quantum physics, the law of attraction or something else- this one holds a hopeful message for all of us. Perhaps we really can emerge on the other side of all this as a kinder, more equitable and just society.