Kindness Counts

Kindness counts in everything we do.

Yes, it does.

An act of kindness, no matter how small, can brighten the day for both giver and recipient. Something as small as opening or holding a door for someone can brighten a day or lift the spirits. 

I recently held a door open for a woman struggling to carry a large box into the UPS store. Was this a life-changing act? Of course not. It was a simple kindness that made the other person's life just a bit easier for a moment. And it made me feel good to help. That small kindness created a connection, albeit very brief, between two humans who didn't know each other.

Twice recently, as I was struggling to life my camera bad into the overhead in above my seat, a flight attendant helped me lift the heavy bag. They're not supposed to assist passengers with their bags to avoid injury, but I was assisted twice. 

Kindness has no financial cost, unless we make it so. Someone in line to get coffee at a drive-through coffee shop may decide to pay for the coffee of the person in the following car. This small additional cost can, and has, created a chain reaction of people buying coffee for the person in the next car. The initial cost (I don't drink coffee so I don't know the cost of a cup from a Starbucks-type business) is small in comparison to the tidal wave of kindness it can generate.

A man once paid for my groceries (some $15), so I told him I would pay forward his kindness. I subsequently paid for the groceries of a Native American woman in a wheelchair, and later I paid for the roses a young man was buying. 

I try to make a point of complementing people I encounter. Words cost nothing, but who doesn't like to receive a complement?

In a world becoming increasingly unkind, practicing a random act of kindness may make a real difference in the life of someone having a bad day.