Random Acts of Kindness

A favorite movie of mine is Pay It Forward. I love the idea of random acts of kindness and I try to do something nice, say something nice, or go the extra mile with the customers and guests that I meet each day. But to be honest, when I do these things on a daily basis, I don't really think of them as random acts of kindness. I think of them as treating people the way my parents taught me to, so I do these things without giving them the conscious attention that they probably deserve.

I was reminded of this today when I read a post about faith in humanity and restoring kindness at one of my new favorite blogs, ZenHabits. I started to think of what I might have done recently that I would truly consider a RAK and there wasn't much. But I did remember that last week an elderly woman using a walker was leaving the building, having just left bankruptcy court. She asked me if I could call a cab for her. When I asked her where she needed to go, she said that she needed the cab to drive her about 4 blocks away to where her car was parked. My heart went out to her immediately. I thought it was so sad that she had to pay a cab to drive her 4 blocks - not to mention the fact that in the time it would take a cab to get there in our town, she could have walked herself with her walker faster. Without giving it another thought, I told her that if she felt comfortable with it, I'd be happy to drive her to her car in my own.

She couldn't stop thanking me during our entire ride. She seemed to surprised and overwhelmed that a stranger would do this for her. She kept saying that she realized that I'd left my job to do this for her and she just couldn't believe it. Of course I didn't mention that if my boss found out, she'd probably fire me on the spot! I just kept thinking that although my grandmother is deceased, I would hope that someone would have done the same for her had she been in that position. As she was getting out of the car, she said a prayer that God would bless me for the kindness I'd shown her that day. She thinks that I made her day, but in truth, she made mine.

I've decided to accept Leo's challenge and make a more conscious effort to pay it forward. Of course I plan to continue to do the things I would normally do, but I want to do more. It's like the difference between "tithes" and "offerings". I believe that tithing is what's expected of me, while offerings are anything above and beyond my tithes.

And I'm not the only one who's caught the fire that Leo is spreading. Susan wrote about her thoughts on Leo's post today as well. And, if you're really serious about this, check out the Random Acts of Kindess website.

I'm going to start thinking about some simple "pay it forward" ideas that I could do. When I come up with a list, I'll post it here.