“Your greatness is measured by your kindness; your education and intellect by your modesty; your ignorance is betrayed by your suspicions and prejudices, and your real caliber is measured by the consideration and tolerance you have for others.”
William J.H. Boetcker (1873-1962)
Religious Leader, Influential Public Speaker
A random act of kindness is usually something unrecognized because people who commit them are very rare. Examples of such include paying for coffee for the person in line behind you, paying the toll for a person in line behind you, or attaching a dollar bill do a dryer at a laundry mat. These occasional appearances can either be extremely small or incredibly big and over the top. The main point is that its random.
A majority of the people in this world are afraid of strangers for many reasons. One being that not all strangers are safe to approach, but two because of how they look or judge with their eyes. If someone is simply just smiling, they are that much easier to approach.
So, what about the nice people we don’t know? There are plenty of people in the world who are happy and generous and not sharing it with me. Until now.
I thought about not disclosing this information to my readers at first, but then I thought, people in this world need to be shown how to do things, for instance being nice and this story is a extreme example of being nice. Take notes.
One day at work my mother got a usual complaint call about their bill. The conversation started with a typical inquiry but ended up with talk of various similarities. She ended up speaking with a retired US Dental Command Commander for the Army and was happy to hear stories about my own father and his experiences in the Marines. Seeing as my mother was at work and could not be having casual conversations, they exchanged information and ended the call.
About a month later there was a letter in the mail from the Commander that had a Texas address printed on it. Inside was a tear-jerking note praising my father for his duties in protecting the nation. Wrapped up inside the note was a gold honorary dental coin given to me as a gift. Within an instant I was already thinking about what to say in my thank you note to this gracious man.
I have no idea who he is, how old he is or what he does but the fact that all that information was missing made me even more grateful and happy that someone so out of the blue can offer up such an item.
I sent a thank you note back full of emotion and weeks later completely forgot about it.
Just yesterday I went to the mail room to pick up a package (new screen for stupid laptop) and found another letter from the Commander. As I cradled two packages and rushed home before my yoga class, I attempted to open his letter when a check fell out. I literally glimpsed at it for a second, did a laugh/chuckle and shook my head. My mom was just as baffled as I was.
The note read “Makayla, thank you so much for your wonderful “thank you” note! It is appearing to me that you are doing well in school because that was one of the nicest notes I have ever received. Please use this check to have a fun and safe weekend and forget about school for a few hours! Treat yourself to something nice. I wish you all the best in your studies.
PS my son is a freshman at St. Lawrence University in NY-so I know you can use a few $”
Ironically the note was dated a day before my birthday without him knowing so I guess it worked out. With that check I will be sure to pay it forward to others much less fortunate than I. After sharing this news with my housemates, most of their responses were “You’re so lucky”. And I am.
Random acts of kindness do not need to be defined because of how simple of a concept it is. Even though this man went above and beyond with his kindness, it was still random and whether its big or small doesn’t matter at all.
Everyday I am more grateful for the generosity I stumble across in my life because after having a rocky morning yesterday, I check my mail box and receive much more than I expected.
Lesson learned: check my mail more often.
Take this story and pay it forward as much as you can.