Random Acts of Kindness

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I had an epiphany last week in a Costco parking lot. Maybe it was an existential crisis. What is the meaning of life and why am I here? I had a not-fun-day. Like we all do. I couldn’t get some stuff done. I had some money complications. I felt like an idiot trying to figure out something on the computer for my work. And my tooth hurt. Now, running errands in Seattle, circling the crammed parking lot, racing like a bat-out-of-hell just to beat that young mom (with her two kids) in the Ford Explorer, to the space that took forever to empty because the lady had difficulty fitting 2000 rolls of toilet paper into the trunk of her car. And the Explorer pulls in as I’m daydreaming about making a bonfire out of the toilet paper. So I park at the far end of the lot, which is in another county, and walk through the rain, and forget my list—leaving it in my truck. (Did I mention that my tooth hurt?) So decide to walk around and people watch, and buy one jar of mixed nuts.

Try this — stand in line at Costco with one item, and see the looks you get. “Is this it? Seriously?”

“No. But I can’t multi-task. So I’ll be back tomorrow for another item on my list.”

“Whatever.” And then I’m in another line, just waiting to exit Costco, so that I can walk miles back to my truck. But at least I have mixed nuts to eat on the journey.

“Please. Go ahead.” I realize the woman ahead of me is talking to me. “Please. You look like you need a break today. Go ahead.” (Does it have anything to do with the fact that a middle-aged man is lying in the fetal position on the floor of Costco?) Her simple gesture struck me. I didn’t know whether to hug her. Or just cry. So I did both. (Until the guy behind us said, “Hey, can you guys love on one another outside, we have to keep the line moving!”) Here’s the deal: Kindness is not always the norm. And takes us by surprise. Which makes it all the more powerful. It is so easy to be overwhelmed these days. And so easy to forget that hope exists. Love exists. Kindness exists.

Be gentle with yourself today.

And try one act of kindness.

“The powerlessness of
kindness, of senseless kindness, is the secret of its immortality. It can never be
conquered . . . Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome
evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil struggling to crush a small kernel of
human kindness.”
–Vasily Grossman (Russian novelist)