Random Acts of Kindness

This has been a busy week in the way of holidays. Yesterday was Valentine's Day and Presidents Day is the day after tomorrow. But did you know there is actually something significant about the entire week of February 10-16? It's Random Acts of Kindness Week. I read about it a few days ago, made a mental note, and then, admittedly, kind of forgot about it--until about 25 minutes ago when I witnessed something beautiful.

This afternoon, I drove 25 minutes to a store where I'd hoped to use a gift card I had recently received, only to find that the store was out of business. Not thrilled, I pulled out of the store's parking lot and back into traffic,sitting through the same traffic light twice, waiting to make a left-hand turn. Stewing in irritation over the wasted time, to say nothing of the wasted gas and gas money, I began to feel impatient.

Just then, I glanced out my window and saw a man struggling to push his out-of-gas car towards a gas pump at a gas station on the other side of the intersection. Not really thinking about anything other than when I might finally be able to make my left-hand turn, I watched him. He had rolled down his driver's side window and was trying to both steer and push his car by reaching his hand through the open window, using one hand to push on the steering column and the other hand to turn the wheel. It was slow going.

After a few seconds, a white pick-up truck turned into the parking lot, squeezing between the distressed car and the curb. The driver of the truck jumped out and helped the stranger push his car to the gas pump. Then, he smiled, waved goodbye, jumped back into his truck, and drove away. He had not even needed to purchase gas. He had simply seen a fellow human being in need, and had taken the opportunity to meet the need.

All my frustration melted away. What a beautiful act of unsolicited kindness I had just had the privilege to witness. I felt a lot like the Grinch must have felt when his small heart grew three sizes in one day. That pick-up truck driver knows he helped the man whose car was out of gas, but he has no idea how much he also helped me--and perhaps countless others who might also have witnessed his kindness.

When the light I had been waiting for finally did turn green, I thought as I drove home about how I had set out to find one thing--black shoes, and I had found something very different--human kindness.

What can you do to help someone today?