As my boyfriend and I traveled for eight hours together the other day, we started to notice small acts of kindness that might usually go unnoticed. All we ever hear about these days are the negative stories that consume our eyes and ears. Our society has become overwhelmed with evil acts that take over our news sources and social media accounts. It truly is depressing and I find myself turning off the news more than turning it on. Let’s face it, we live in a world where the top stories make us question everything. I find myself beaming with joy when I turn on the radio or television and actually hear a gleeful story. In Grand Rapids, a local radio station, B-93, does a segment called “awesome sauce” each morning that is truly uplifting because it is a small story of someone who did some good. It's so simple but somehow makes us all believe that humanity still exists.
Why are we so focused on the negative? Is it because these gloomy events scare us and stick with us? Sometimes we close ourselves off to see the good. I admit to doing that. If we open our eyes to these small acts that happen each day, we can extend these feel good moments to others.
As we were traveling home for the holidays, our flight could not land at our final destination and we had to re-route to a different city to stay put for a few hours. People obviously became tense and exhausted, but we weren't mad because we knew it was for our safety. Our Southwest pilot was very kind and did everything in his power to let us get out at the temporary airport to walk around and eat. As we exited the plane, my boyfriend and I walked to the small airport coffee shop for our second or third breakfast of the day, it was a long morning. As we hopped in the long line (it was either that or Chee Chee burger at ten am), we noticed the airport was full of military men and women coming back from training. Everywhere you turned, you heard a "thank you for your service" and I couldn't help but smile. Standing there in line, I noticed a man from our flight who was a few people ahead of us. I know for a fact that he had already had a hectic morning. None of that mattered though as he smiled and bought two coffee drinks for the military men behind him. Small act, right? But so effective. As I turned to my boyfriend all giddy about it, it made me want to do some good too.
When we returned to the flight and finally landed at our correct airport, there was an elderly couple who was frantic about whether or not they would make their connecting flight. The young lady to their right did everything in her power to get all of their trip information to help them out. She happily lessened their stress and let them know what gate they needed to get to, where that was, and asked if they needed any other assistance. The rest of us on that flight cheered them on as they exited and ran to their next plane. Once again, small act, but so effective. Two acts of kindness I noticed in less than two hours that made me want to pay it forward, isn't that amazing? It doesn't take much in this world to spread happiness. If we direct our attention to this kind of affection, it will allow us to influence the world in small ways.
From this one day of travel, I was reminded that humanity still exists and it can trump all acts of evil if we allow it to. I urge you to get out there today and do some good! Like Ellen says, "be kind to one another."
