The other day a stranger did something for me that was remarkable enough for me to write about it.
People pass each other by without a cursory glance. Then one of the blips on our day takes a step outside of their human-shaped existence and brings light into our day. The kindness of strangers is something that has been devalued, or at least become more of a pleasing surprise than an everyday occurrence.
Often we forget that the people existing around us are also people themselves. Humans with their own lives, stories, hopes, and sorrows. Their lives are speeding up exponentially fast, just like ours. They live with troubles and roadblocks. They struggle, yet it is easy to blur them out of perception.
This can lead to a penchant to block out all menial ‘others;' to eliminate the strangers that pass by and disappear into the abyss forever. Maybe it is this only-man predisposition that makes the interactions I have with strangers all the more meaningful. It might be because we both know they have nothing to gain by helping me and vice versa.
But even if there’s nothing tangible to glean from helping an unknown, there’s a certain value in the open gratitude of an unsuspecting receiver.
This sort of thing happened to me not two days ago. I was driving home on a crazy road. There were loads of cars that all had different levels of urgency to arrive at their different locations. I was trying a new route home. It was taking forever, because of all the stops and starts. But as I was waiting to turn a man in a car stopped and let me go. It was so kind and lovely. He had nothing to gain from helping me get to my destination more quickly. He had no way of collecting any reciprocity. This simple kindness elated me, for I had been idling for four minutes.
In a grocery store, where people are all around but rarely interact with one another, I was walking and a lady smiled at me. I didn’t know what was in her cart. I didn’t know her name. It was a recognition of my humanity that made my day a little brighter.
The delight that can be obtained from a door being held open. How much effort does it take to open a door? Yet how much can that door granting entrance make a life better? It makes me feel like a queen. When a door is opened it forces me to remember to be gracious; it’s a precursor to a good day. The benefits of an action in place of an inaction can make that pleased soft smile form, the one that comes from being treated to an unexpected kindness.
What is there to gain from lending a little kindness to a stranger? The knowledge that they now have the ability to take that kindness and toss it. Toss it into another’s life, creating an exponentially brighter world.
