As I walk towards the bus stop, it starts to rain. I’ve got my extra strong stormproof umbrella with me. Suddenly I see a lady running, she forgot to bring her umbrella. I increase my pace and call out to her “Do you want to share my umbrella?” First she says ‘No, thanks”. As I start walking next to her I make sure my umbrella covers her too. She looks at me and smiles “Thank you”. I feel a giggle in my heart. Oh, right, that’s what kindness feels like.
Later that day in the bus on my way home, I notice two teenagers. They had their legs all the way on a free seat. A lady standing close to me says “How rude” and looks at the teenagers with a cross face. I look at her and ask “Do you want my seat?” She refuses, although she smiles at me. As the bus is moving on, I start thinking about how we all deal with kindness. Being an Ambassador of Kindness for Life Vest Inside I sometimes struggle with the subject. I watch my colleagues in the US performing all sorts of acts of kindness. Logically I compare myself to them.
I could continue to listen to the little diva (my ego) who compares me to others. No, I don’t pay forward at Mc Donalds, no I don’t go looking for homeless people. That’s true. Suddenly I’m fed up with the little diva inside my head. I do it my way. I open doors for strangers, I look strangers in the eye and smile, I make a joke to make people smile… Suddenly I realize that I’m kind of a kind person, most of the time.
The way people try to make the world a bit better, shouldn’t matter. I try to do it in a way that fits into my life and my personality. I come across others who do it their way and today I was impressed by the act of kindness of a woman in Oregan. She wanted to do something to honour 28 people who had been killed in a shooting. She decided to do an act of kindness on Valentine’s Day. She had gift certificates at home and bought some more for coffee. Two days before her act of kindness her partner broke of their relationship. Where others would have cancelled the whole thing, she decided to do it anyway. She left her gift to strangers in honour to people who died.
The first week of November is Kindness Week. It would be cool to start leaving little gifts for others in that week. Just to remind them that our world is actually already kind of cool.
Given the fact that I love to visit toilets (the special ones, with nice designs) I already have a great idea. I can feel the giggle in my heart already.
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