Act of Kindness
It’s the 4th of July holiday weekend when we celebrate our nation’s birthday. Maybe it’s time to stop and reflect for a moment on what “America” really means.
It’s a land of goodwill and opportunity. With all that is going on – the polarization of our country, we’ve been so inundated we become jaded – you’d think everything is terrible. However, good things happen all the time. People do something daily that makes this the greatest country in the world. Only you rarely hear about them. You only hear about the bad things that happen to people. In honor of this special day, here are a few good stories that happened to me or someone told me during a social conversation.
Maybe something like this has happened to you, or perhaps you’ve done something like the following:
Pass it Along
I know this story is true since it happens to my wife and me at the Manassas Ruby Tuesday. It was Christmas time, and we went to have soup and the salad bar – a favorite meal for both of us. When it came to paying, the waitress said that her previous customer had paid our bill.
When questioned, she said that her first customer of the day – at 1 PM (a regular) paid his bill with a gift certificate for way more than the cost of his meal. So he said, in the Christmas spirit, he said to use the remaining money to pay the bill for the next customer she was serving. When she explained the situation to the next customer, the next customer told the waitress that he would like to continue the tradition and pay for her next customer. The process had been going on all afternoon when we arrived for our dinner meal at 7 PM. So, of course, we continued the trend and added an extra-large tip for the waitress who had kept the trend going all afternoon. When she explained what had happened to a young couple with a baby at the nearby table, they quickly figured out who had paid their bill. They turned and thanked us, and we had a pleasant conversation. I found out the couple had been recently transferred to the area courtesy of the military. It was their first meal out since moving. We welcomed them to the DC area.
Unfortunately, we never got to thank the people who paid for our meal, but maybe that is the point. Millions of kind acts are done each day, and no one ever hears about them.
A similar thing happened again a few years ago on the 4th of July weekend. We were on the road, going to some friends for the holiday weekend, when we stopped to get lunch at Taco Bell. When we came to the window, we were told that the car in front of us had paid our bill. So, of course, we paid for the car behind us.
Anonymous Downer
An ex-military co-worker I worked with at the Pentagon told me about when he went to a local dinner on Veterans Day. Somebody had already paid for his breakfast at the end of his meal. It seems an anonymous man entered the restaurant just as it opened and handed the owner five 100 hundred dollar bills. He said, }use the money to pay for any veteran’s meal for the day. If you run out, don’t take their money. Keep a tab. I’ll come back at closing time and make up the difference.” Northern Virginia has a lot of veterans, so they went through the money pretty quickly. The owner kept a tab, and the man returned and settled the difference. He also gave the owner another 500 dollars to be shared among the staff as a bonus for working on the holiday.
Helping Out with Groceries
How often have you seen someone at the checkout line having difficulty finding the money to pay their bill? It happened in front of me at the local Wal-Mart. A young mom with a baby was going through this scenario. Apparently, she only had so much money to purchase the items. When she came up short, she tried to decide which items to remove to deduct the cost. As the person next in line, I heard the conversation. Looking at the groceries, I made a decision.
“What is the difference?” I asked the cashier.
“About $25.”
“Use my credit card,” I said, handing the cashier my credit card. “I’ll pay the difference.”
The cashier shrugged and proceeded to process the card. The young mom turned and thanked me. She asked why I was being so kind. I explained that no one should have to choose between baby formula and Pampers.
Enjoy your 4th of July Holiday. You may disagree with the person next to you, but remember to show patience and kindness to those around you because we all have to live in this country together, the United States of America.