Random Act of Kindness

Do It

We’ve all heard the term “random act of kindness” or “pay it forward”. But it never loses its magic when it actually happens like today when I both witnessed it and later, did it myself.

After my morning run in Central Park in this NY heat, I was 4th in line for my 2nd bottle of water at the hog dog stand. The woman at the head of the line realized as she was going to pay, that she was short the money she needed in order to buy the hot dog and drink she wanted. 2 Police officers were behind her on line and one of them offered to help the woman out and pay for her food. It was such a nice moment to watch and made me thank the officer out loud and say to her, I was really happy to have seen that, well done, I said. She smiled and said, what else was I going to do.

Fast forward to 7:45 tonight when I am walking back home from dinner. A man coming toward me in the other direction I noticed reached into his pocket for something and it looked as if something fell from his pocket onto the sidewalk. 2 men closer to him said, I think you dropped something. I, further back, noticed this as well. Anyway, the man stopped and looked around but did not find anything on the sidewalk and kept walking. He passed me and I eventually got to where I had first seen him. I stopped, took my time and looked around carefully all over. Sure enough, there it was – the man had dropped his Costco membership card. I picked it up and ran in the other direction to the top of the block, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, here – you dropped this. He said, Thanks man. And there it was. My thanks goes to the officer this morning who planted the seed for me to open myself up for my moment of kindness. You can either initiate this or open your eyes to all these acts of kindness around you each day that can and will inspire you to do the same.