Kindness has been on my mind lately. I don’t know about you, but I can just forget be kind, let that person out in traffic, have someone go ahead of me at the grocery store, or just give someone a sincere compliment.
The world is so busy and it seems like we have to go everywhere and do everything so quickly that I can forget to notice what is happening around me. That’s the opportunity I have. I have the opportunity to “catch other people being good” or to just pay attention.
Why am I reminding you? Because I need a reminder. I received two this week so I thought I would pass on the favor.
My first reminder came from one of my online students. I had sent out an email offering some extra help since I knew that they had a few days off. The answer that I received was not “I need help”, but Thank you for offering us this extra opportunity. You are always offering to help and I appreciate it. My favorite part though is when she said I don’t know why I wrote that, I just thought you needed to know.
I did need to know that. I needed to remember that even though I do not see my students in person, my efforts do not go unnoticed.
My second example was yesterday. I had met someone a few times and she could not remember my name. I reminded her and her reaction was “You look like a Sarah”. So I asked “What does a Sarah look like?” She immediately answered “Sarah’s are kind. Sweet. Sarah’s have a good demeaner.”
Two completely unrelated moments of kindness remind me that I should take the opportunities to say the kind words to someone when the appear; not let the moment go by. It may cost me nothing but a moment of my time, but it could mean everything to someone else.
This week, I am going to ‘pay forward’ the kindness I have received recently. Will you join me?
