A Random Act of Kindness

The Granola Bar of Westport

Early one morning, I was walking across the parking lot to my favorite coffee shop. I greeted a man leaving the coffee shop (he had a cup of coffee in each hand and an envelope).

He headed towards me and held out the hand with the envelope and asked if I could help him out. I answered, "of course".

He asked me to take the envelope.  I did and he walked away.  Puzzled, I asked what he wanted me to do with the envelope. He answered that I should keep it.

I opened the envelope to find it was a gift card to the coffee shop.  I shouted out to him, "Thank you! What's this for?"

He answered, "you smiled and said hello ~ that made my day".

I was gobsmacked. What a wonderful experience. A purely random act of kindness. I later learned that someone had given him the card. As he is a regular at The Granola Bar, he decided to pass the gift along. The gift card originated from the Daly Method.

Whatever its origin, I was delighted by the experience and plan to "pay it forward".  Like the line from Candid Camera, "Smile ... somewhere, someplace when you least expect it, someone steps up to you and says ...."

I think we get complacent and normal civilities like saying hello get lost in the speed with which we go through our day. This was a reminder to remember the small stuff.  You never know what a small, random act of kindness might mean to the other guy.