Small acts of kindness really do matter.
I learned this important lesson about how best to live recently when I was shopping at a grocery store. It’s been awhile since I did shopping for more than an occasional quart of milk, but I was surprised by how much prices had risen.
It was the first time I had used my bank debit card since my credit account had been hacked. After a struggle getting through to my bank and assured my account would be fixed and a new card issued, I felt relieved.
Imagine my shock a few days later when after using my debit card to pay for about $20 in purchases, I was told the card couldn’t be used due to a hold for “fraudulent” uses.
Let me be clear — I have very good credit. I pay my bills on time. I don’t waste money on things I don’t really need. Unlike some I live on the revenue available and can’t kick shortcomings down the road hoping to pay them off in later years.
But here’s a happy ending to what for me was an embarrassing moment. Hearing my plight a man standing behind me said simply: “I’ll pay for it with my card.”
I’m not used to kindness. So when it happened all I could think to say was: “Thank you for your kindness. It made my day.”
The sadder realization hit me later why this act of kindness hit so deeply. From the highest level to the most popular, our culture is inundated with three pervasive qualities — nastiness, arrogance and selfishness.
I had grown numb to the possibility of generosity and to a kinder way of dealing with one another. We seem to accept nasty words and deeds as just the way things are.
To that gentleman standing behind me in the grocery line a few days ago, thank you. You have made me realize again that small acts of kindness make a difference in an unkind world.
I was reminded again of the lines of a 1798 poem by English poet William Wordsworth about his trek up above Tintern Abbey, Wales, a path I had climbed years later and where I felt the same presence of mystery.
In that poem Wordsworth wrote not only about the beauty of nature but about what he called the “best portion of a good man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered, acts of kindness and of love.”
And I wondered how my life, indeed the life of the world, might be different if for one day, even one hour, everyone practiced giving one act of kindness?
The Golden Rule found in so many cultures implies that reciprocity is a key to life — how you treat others will be how they treat you. Sowing kindness, therefore, is a wise decision for yourself as well as others.
Try one act of kindness today and see what happens. Then, if you would be so kind, report your deed to me and tell me how you and the person receiving this kindness felt. I promise not to use your name but will use what your kind deed was and how it made you feel. You can send your comments by email to johnmorgan33@yahoo.com.
John C. Morgan is an author and teacher who writes about ethical issues and concerns. For more resources on kindness go to www.randomactsofkindness.org.
