My first Random Act of
Kindness experience was in the 90’s. I had just been through a difficult
meeting and when I got back to my car, saw that I had a flat tire. It was one
of those nasty cold, wet days when you wish you could curl up in front of a
fire and forget the whole day. But here I was in my best ‘go-to-meeting’ duds,
dripping, cold, despondent, staring at a flat tire. I had just opened the trunk and was
digging around for the spare when a man approached me. Let’s call him Bill. In
a very matter of fact way, he said, “here, let me take care of this for you”.
As he worked, Bill told a story about how he had been stranded at an airport at
Christmas time and was afraid that he would miss the holiday with his wife and children.
A stranger approached Bill and offered to drive him to another airport where he
could get a flight out. All he asked was that Bill ‘pay it forward’ when the
opportunity arose.
I’m a big city girl so in my experience, acts of kindness of any kind, random or deliberate, are
rare. This was a life changing moment for me.
Do you commit random acts of kindness?
