Today something so sweet happened to me. It’s not like something like this hasn’t happened to me before, but you can never prepare for the types of things that happen to you that turn your whole day upside down. I had to read a paper I wrote to my entire English class today, which I was really stressing out about because it was based on a reading that was very hard. I got through it, thankfully, and received good feedback. I thought I was having a pretty good day. Not to mention, my old roommate who moved to California is home and I will be seeing her tonight to watch the Grey’s Anatomy premiere, which also makes my day a little extra special. My day was going pretty well and I really had no complaints.
Well, then I went to work and was swiping cards when a woman walked over and handed me a carnation and asked if I wanted a flower. I was a little shocked at first because these things don’t happen every day, but I took it anyway. I thanked her and she walked away.
I noticed that attached to the flower was a tag:
On the back it said, “Keep this for yourself as a reminder to watch out for Acts of Kindness…or pass it on to someone who you’ve seen performing one.” It made me so happy! I decided to keep it so I could share the message with my roommates. I have performed and been on the receiving end of a good amount of random acts of kindness, but to have this one labeled in this way, encouraging others to do the same, was very sweet and uplifting. Sometimes I get caught up in getting through my day and don’t realize that others around me might be having a bad day. I know of people who set a goal to perform a random act of kindness every day. I want to start. I do it as much as I can, but I could do better. I’m thankful to have an actual organization at my school dedicated solely to randomly giving to others and spreading love. That’s what life’s all about anyway. Spread the love while you still can.
Have you ever been a part of a moving random act of kindness or seen one occur? I’d love to hear about it! What are you thankful for?
I have heard of organized random act of kindness like you experienced and I think it can only be viewed as a good thing. Similar to the saying stop and smell the roses. I have not been the recipient of an org. act of kindness like you experienced but I have had many acts of kindness shown to me in my lifetime. Growing up and now the Church does many acts of kindness and many volunteer organizations I believe are acts of kindness. Picking up garbage you find and pick up even when no one else knows about it is in its own way an act of kindness to others. I think we have acts of kindness done everyday for us we just don’t dwell on it (make ourselves aware of it completely). I will try to be more aware of it daily in my life also. Good post.
Kelly,
I remember encountering that blog but I haven’t found it yet. I’d love to find it again!
I love hearing about the small things people do for one another. I also feel very good when I let someone cut ahead of me in line or pick sometime up when they have dropped it. If it makes someone happy, even in just that moment, it’s worth it in my book. Thanks for sharing your random acts of kindness experiences!
-Sarah
There’s a blog that’s all about random acts of kindness — if I come across it again, I’ll let you know.
I’ve been part of a few acts of random kindness recently. On Tuesday, a friend and I were at an event for business women in Ottawa. We stopped and talked to a lady who’s part of a theater company here. And the lady gave us two free tickets to any play that we want to see :-)
The other two are just small things — there were only two packs of beef bones left at the grocery store, and I was going to buy them both to make soup. An elderly lady came along and asked me if I needed them both. I told her yes, I was making soup. She said she really needed a pack of bones for her dog. How could I say no?! So I gave her one pack and I took the other one. And then last night at Costco, I told the guy behind us in line with two items to go ahead of us (we had a full wagon). Just small things, but they made me feel good and I think the two people I was kind to appreciated it :-)
Kelly