Kindness Returned

  I purposely decided to make my 'Small Acts of Kindness Blog Day' on Saturday.  I figured I'd have an entire week to come up with something interesting to do.  As life zoomed on the thought left my mind and on Thursday I realized not only had I not completed my act of kindness for the week, but I hadn't even thought of what I wanted to do.  The only thing I knew was that I wanted this week to be something for a complete stranger.  Earlier I had arranged for my parents to come and watch the triplets  on Saturday while I went to Starbucks to work on their baby books (I want them completed up to one year for their birthday).  A while back, my husband had gotten a $5 Starbucks gift card and I decided I would give the card to the barista and ask her to use it on anyone that looked like they were having a bad day.  I decided I would do my act right before I left.  I settled down to work on the books at a table next to the counter were customers can pick up napkins and pour milk into their coffee.  After working for about ten minutes or so a gentleman walked over to the counter right as I started to sneeze.  Without even thinking, he grabbed a few napkins and handed them over.  He then blessed me and even offered to pull down the window shade.  It wasn't much, but it was a friendly gesture to a complete stranger.  I guess if you viewed the act in context of our modern day society, it has a little bit more meaning.  If more people took the time to do a small gesture such as that, can you imagine how different our world might be?  Instead of the rude, non-caring stance that so many people seem to take now a days our lives would be filled with understanding and compassion.  Yes in a world where thoughts are so often 'I, Me, Mine' a simple friendly smile and thoughtful act can go along way.  I can definitely say that it was a bright spot in my otherwise train wreck of a morning.  After that encounter, I had changed my plan.  Instead of remaining anonymous (a state that I prefer), I was going to give my gift card to this gentleman and hopefully encourage him to continue his friendly demeanor.  Gathering my courage, I approached him, thanked him for his kindness and insisted on giving him the gift card.  I felt good about my kind act.
  Just as a little side note, I strive to live my life as a positive influence.  I try to think of how my attitude can effect the people around  me and I think its a really depressing feeling to know that your actions may have caused a person to have a horrible day.  Keeping that in mind, I try to remain patient and understanding.  You never know when someone just might need a smile.  Of course, I'm only human and I suffer from impatience, attacks of bad attitude, and I'm sometimes down right rude.  The point of these Acts of Kindness blog entries are not to 'toot my on horn', but to give me accountability so that I might be able to reach my goal of being a positive influence and I hope that these posts will also encourage you to think of your own small acts of kindness that you might be able to do.