Last night I was in a restaurant with a friend, grabbing
some drinks and food after work. We were
at Hackney’s, one of my favorite spots by my apartment in the city. Other than the sheer convenience of being two
blocks away, Hackney’s is a quaint German bar with good food and great beer on
tap.
My friend and I were discussing the normal stuff we do after
another day’s work. We both have a lot
going on in our lives, but who doesn't, right?
As our time there continued, I was struck with an urge to perform some
random act of kindness.
I don’t know why I suddenly felt compelled to do something
nice for an arbitrary person in my life that night, but I was determined. So as I was explaining this to my friend, she
gave me the great idea of simply buying someone dessert in the restaurant.
That was it! Who doesn't
like dessert, and who would ever turn away a free piece of cake!?
I quickly recruited my server to be a part of this exciting
adventure with me. I wanted help in finding the person(s) who will enjoy a free
dessert. After collaborating with the
other servers, we identified a table of two women who we thought would enjoy
the cake.
My seat in the restaurant gave me a fortunate glimpse into
the other room where I could see the entire situation unfold. I saw the server approach the women with a
large piece of cake, and all of a sudden laughter and smiles were abundant. They accepted the cake, and with each bite
their smiles grew larger. The server
came back to me and said “That was perfect.
Couldn't have gone better. They are definitely going to pay it forward. Thank
you!”
My heart was full. It
felt so great to just do something so random and nice for someone I’ll never
know. Who knows what kind of day they
were having? Who knows how much this
piece of cake could have truly meant to them on this Tuesday evening?
As my server lingered around our table with tears in her
eyes, she couldn't stop saying how this little gesture gave her hope and made
her day. And that’s what this is all
about, right? I couldn't help myself, so
I added $5.45 to her tip, the exact cost of the piece of chocolate cake she
said she loves.
Tuesdays are always better with chocolate cake.
And so my inspiration continued from this random act of
kindness. Why not continue doing things
like this, every day? And why not blog
about it?
I invite you to join me in my 365 day journey of
kindness. I will perform some kind of
arbitrary act that brings hope and a smile to someone’s life every day for the
next year. I hope my story gives you
some ideas on how you can make someone’s day with a simple gesture of giving
and kindness. Share your experiences
with me. Send me blog entries on what
you discover.
Let’s show humanity that there’s hope, and we are part of
that hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment