You would not believe the reactions I get from some people when I do random acts of kindness. Sometimes it is just initiating a conversation with a smile, returning a shopping cart to the store for a person who is parked in handicapped (or far from the store) just to make their life a bit easier, asking that 'scruffy dude' who has his pickup truck hood up if he needs any help, letting that 'other car' get into the closer parking space even though I was waiting for it, etc. But, the one I like to do the most is this:
On each pay day, I like to go to a drive up window at a fast food place like McDonalds. When I get to the pay window, I look through the rear view mirror to see how many people are in the car behind me. (You'll see why I do this in a moment.) If the car behind me is just a few people, I ask the cashier at the drive up how much the bill was for the car behind me. Normally, it is under $10, but one time it was around $15. So after I ask this, I then say I'd like to pay for the car behind me (that's why I look to make sure that there isn't a whole car load of people and I wouldn't be able to afford doing this). You should see the reactions I get. The last time I did this (about a week ago), the cashier said, "Oh, you know them?" I said, "No." She looked at me like I was crazy (which I am) and then had to call her manager over to handle the transaction. Another time (at a Jack-in-the-Box) I did this and the manager thought it was so sweet that she gave me a free antenna 'Jack' bobble head.
What I'm getting at here is that most random acts of kindness don't cost but a few moments of your time. I'm not suggesting you do what I do on some pay days with buying people's food, but other acts that don't cost money can really make someone's day. Why do I do this? I really don't think it's for the reaction anymore, I think it's because with the way the world is today, I want to impress upon people like myself who may not be on really hard times, but may be silently struggling that others, even strangers can be kind and that we are all lucky to be alive. In fact, this was the exact reaction I got when, after purchasing the McDonald's ticket for a Mom and her two little girls, as I was driving away, I looked into the rear view mirror and the Mom and both little girls (no older then 6 or 7) held up their icecream cones in a thankyou salute to me. I held a thumbs up with a big smile as I drove away.
:raise
On each pay day, I like to go to a drive up window at a fast food place like McDonalds. When I get to the pay window, I look through the rear view mirror to see how many people are in the car behind me. (You'll see why I do this in a moment.) If the car behind me is just a few people, I ask the cashier at the drive up how much the bill was for the car behind me. Normally, it is under $10, but one time it was around $15. So after I ask this, I then say I'd like to pay for the car behind me (that's why I look to make sure that there isn't a whole car load of people and I wouldn't be able to afford doing this). You should see the reactions I get. The last time I did this (about a week ago), the cashier said, "Oh, you know them?" I said, "No." She looked at me like I was crazy (which I am) and then had to call her manager over to handle the transaction. Another time (at a Jack-in-the-Box) I did this and the manager thought it was so sweet that she gave me a free antenna 'Jack' bobble head.
What I'm getting at here is that most random acts of kindness don't cost but a few moments of your time. I'm not suggesting you do what I do on some pay days with buying people's food, but other acts that don't cost money can really make someone's day. Why do I do this? I really don't think it's for the reaction anymore, I think it's because with the way the world is today, I want to impress upon people like myself who may not be on really hard times, but may be silently struggling that others, even strangers can be kind and that we are all lucky to be alive. In fact, this was the exact reaction I got when, after purchasing the McDonald's ticket for a Mom and her two little girls, as I was driving away, I looked into the rear view mirror and the Mom and both little girls (no older then 6 or 7) held up their icecream cones in a thankyou salute to me. I held a thumbs up with a big smile as I drove away.
:raise
