KINDNESS
SHOWS UP IN UNLIKELY PLACES
I noticed that simple acts of human
kindness are often found in the least likely places. John one of my other
friends was at an intensive care unit of the hospital after his brother was
critically injured in a car accident.
As John kept a round-the-clock vigil,
a food -filled cooler mysteriously appeared beside him. There was no name on
the cooler and upon enquiry the nurse told him that a woman had left it there
for him. That gift sustained John through one of the most difficult times of
his life.
Another acquaintance of mine Martin, a
retired teacher, found the act of kindness in a busy store at Noosa. The store
was jammed with a long line at the register. Martin noticed that a lady behind
him had three young children with her and he offered to let her go ahead of
him, which she did with pleasure.
When Martin got to the cashier he was
told that the bill was already paid for by the woman with the three young
children. Martin could not believe it so he got out just in time to thank the
lady for being so kind. Her response was that Martin was the one who was being
kind by letting her in front in the first place.
Then there is another of my personal
stories where an act of kindness was displayed. When we were living at Bushlark
Court I was awakened at midnight by the repeated ring of the door bell. When I
opened the door, a gentleman was holding the bunch of keys to my house. I had
accidentally left the keys dangling from the front door and the passing taxi
driver spotted them.
I thanked him and he was quickly on
his way but I can think of many things that could have happened if he had not
noticed the bunch of keys dangling on my front door and rung the door bell.
Then there is a story of an old man
who spoke very little English and was trying without much luck to wrestle a
large item he had just bought into his car. I was in the store and as I opened
the door to go to help the old man, a strong young man with a large truck
changed course and came over to offer his truck and his help. Others joined him
and together the group of strangers heaved and lifted the load into the young
man’s truck. He then followed the owner home to deliver it.
For all those sceptics, no, the young
man with the load of the old man on his truck did not speed off in the opposite
direction with the purchase.
When I met that old man after a few
days his complaint was that none of the strangers who helped him would accept
any reward that he offered them.
Last week I was doing my daily walk
around the block and a gentleman was walking ahead of me with a plastic bag. He
kept collecting any trash he found on the way. I quickly joined him and shook
his hands to thank him and assure him that I will do the same from tomorrow. He
just tossed off the thanks by saying he does it all the time.
Just imagine, if every day each person
picked up one small piece of litter, what an amazing difference that would make
to our environment.
Then a year ago one of my lady friends
found this act of kindness when she ran out of petrol on the motorway. She did
not have a mobile phone so she sat there for almost two hours while cars passed
by. Finally a car with two young men and a woman stopped to find out the
problem. Later they returned with a can of petrol and then followed my lady
friend to the petrol station.
My friend told me that the boys did
not take any money for the trouble they took to help her and she could not stop
to sing praise for their kindness.
Finally, I know of a couple who were
on vacation but they were hopelessly lost and asked a stranger for direction to
their hotel. The stranger not only showed them the way but he drove them right
to the hotel’s parking lot. It probably took the stranger many kilometres out
of his way.
When they thanked the stranger
profusely and said “God Bless You” he turned back to them and said, “Since you
said that, could I ask you to pray for me? I have cancer.”
I am sure that the couple would have
prayed for the stranger for his act of kindness.
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