Day One.
I woke up this morning excited about the first day of 100
days of kindness. What would I do today
to start things off, I wondered. I decided to just let the day unfold and try
to be open to any opportunities that came up. Most of the morning was spent
doing busy work in the office, catching up on emails and phone calls after a
weekend away. After finishing up an
afternoon appointment, I decided to walk over to the local food co-op to grab a
quick lunch and a cold beverage. On my
way there, I was careful to be aware of my surroundings, noticing who walked
past me on the sidewalk, smiling and saying hello to people as we passed. (In
New England, this alone can be something of a radical act.)
At the store, I bought some fruit for myself, and, on the
off chance that I ran into someone who was hungry, bought some beautiful
looking apricots and cherries. In the
check-out line, I noticed a cute little coin purse made from recycled materials
that was adorned with the words, “you are beautiful, don’t change.” On an impulse, I bought it, thinking it would
be a nice gift to give someone who needed a little cheering up. I paid for my
groceries and headed back down the street towards my office. On the way there, I kept my eye out for
someone I could engage with. Most people looked busy, purposeful, not
necessarily open to talking to some random stranger on the street. As I walked
by the Salvation Army, however, I noticed an elderly Hispanic woman in the
parking lot—it looked like maybe she was waiting for someone. And so I
approached her. I smiled and said hello.
She smiled warmly back at me, but didn’t say anything. I asked her if
she spoke English. She shook her head,
no. At that moment I wondered what to
do. I had the fruit in my bag, but all of a sudden I felt weird about giving fruit
to a total stranger in a parking lot. I had obviously not thought this through.
“Can I help you?” came a voice from the building behind me.
A younger looking man came walking over to us. I didn’t really know what to
say, and all of a sudden felt extremely awkward. So I panicked. I pulled the
coin purse out of my bag, and said, “I just wanted her to have this.” I turned
to the woman, “God bless you” I said, “have a beautiful day.” I felt like a total weirdo, though the woman
smiled broadly at me as she took the coin purse. I gave an awkward wave to both
of them as I turned around and headed back across the street. I did not look back for fear that they would
be staring and laughing at the crazy woman who was giving away purses in the
Salvation Army parking lot.
So today I learned a few things about this little
project. First, I learned that having
the goal of reaching out in kindness to at least one person every day actually
requires one to pay attention. It’s so
easy to get wrapped up in our own personal bubbles as we go about our daily
business that we don’t even notice the people around us. Second, I learned that
walking up to strangers on the street is a lot harder than I thought, and,
without any real purpose, maybe not actually advisable. Finally, I learned that
perhaps “random” acts of kindness, while certainly not a bad thing, are not
necessarily always going to work best. I
think I’d prefer to be a little more intentional about this endeavor, which will
require a little more effort, thoughtfulness and planning on my part. So for tomorrow, I’m thinking more along the
lines of a pre-meditated act of kindness.
Stay tuned…
