Realizing Small Kindnesses
I never realized how often I was committing random acts of kindness until I found this organization. Now that I'm aware, I commit myself to doing them more often than I ever have before. Here are some examples:
- When I'm out and about doing daily errands, I hold doors open for elderly people coming through those doors. Sometimes I find myself holding the door for a whole group of people, smiling and joking that I am the official door holder of the day. I get lots of smiles and nice comments with that statement.
-I did a teaching opportunity with my granddaughters. During the holidays I love dropping all my spare change into those red Salvation Army buckets. I put in about $5 - $10 every time I am out shopping. One day I had two of my granddaughters with me. I didn't have any change so I took out two $1 bills then handed them to the girls. I explained that very time I go out shopping I give the red bucket a little bit of money. Of course, the girls were excited about doing the same thing. So they happily walked over and gave the bucket their dollar bills. Both granddaughters were all smiles.
-My youngest daughter was in a group home in the Phoenix area. Every weekend I would make the long 2-hour trip to visit and have lunch with her. On my way home I would stop at one particular gas station to fill up before heading back to Tucson. Every time I stopped to fill my car with gas, there was a homeless old man who simply sat there saying hello to everyone that came in. One day he asked me if I had some money so he could buy something to eat inside. "All I have is a couple of dollars. Will that do?" I responded. He smiled and said, "Sure". I gave him the money and he quickly went inside to buy himself a sandwich. From that moment on I always made sure I had some money with me so I could give it to him to buy a sandwich and something to drink. We got to know each through that experience.
I never realized how small every day things like these are simple acts of kindness. These days I do my best, making sure to do more as I'm out and about in my community.
Denise Barlow
Tucson, Arizona