I work in a field, and commingle with other professions, where it’s all too easy to lose faith in humanity. I had a very discouraging week of me fixing issues others had made or observing chaos unfold around me I hadn’t created. This occurred both at a local level in my immediate environment and nationally through the news (looking at you, D.C.) By Friday, my brain was TMNT ooze and my thoughts were turning to the dark side, Obi Wan.
I’m a Christian and I pray. Sometimes it’s shouting internally, other times it’s running through the philosophical reasons for the existence of evil to remind myself I’m indeed not going crazy and that the presence of evil does not negate the existence of God. Any other philosophy nerds out there?
Sometimes I feel sorry for God, if I can say such a thing. If I’m discouraged from my minute level of understanding, and in my very short time of existence, how much greater is the sorrow of a being who knows everything and has always been? And furthermore, who knows the entire future?
So this is why I wanted to list three random acts of kindness I experienced today. Small things, perhaps, but very big to me. It’s the little things, the mustard seeds, that move mountains after all.
- Hospital worker: Somehow my blood work orders got messed up and I had to return to the hospital to get more blood drawn. The phlebotomist apologized at the end, which I was surprised to hear. (In my experience, health care professionals don’t usually apologize for errors. I’m not sure why). She also gave me a red bandage wrap which matched my Labrador hoodie (leftover from Vday). ❤️
- The waitress: A waitress gave the Saint and I the wrong table’s meals at brunch. As a vegan looking down at salmon, my stomach turned a little and I silently pictured a little fish funeral procession happening around the plate. The waitress gave me a free refill on a delicious health drink that charged $4 for each refill usually. 🍶
- The waiter: At a late dinner, a waiter gave me four green tea bags to take home. This was very nice and observant of him to see what tea I chose. I had asked him if I could take the one leftover bag home and then he gave me three more. I think he was amused I asked for his permission in the first place, like he was the lord and keeper of tea leaves or something. ☕
Thank you, random strangers, who shined a bit of their light today for me. I am grateful and appreciative. And remember Arcians, Tipping’s not just a city in China.*
Have your own random act of kindness recently? Share it below and together, we’ll keep moving forward.
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*A pun. Not an actual city I’ve discovered but funny nonetheless.
Peregrine Arc 
Random acts of kindness are always nice, and doubly so when I’ve had a bad day. — I’m glad some came your way! 🙂 — also… love the picture! But I’m sure I’m biased as I have my own black lab snoozing nearby. ❤😉
Too true. And yes, i have my own black lab as well. She’s a rescue mix. 😊 So I’m right there with you in that boat of bias haha. I put her in my book, too.
Enjoyed your thoughts today. The other day I was at a restaurant and there was only one waitress working, she was definitely not having a good day, a number of things going wrong for her, not just with my order. I tend to overlook minor things like that but some other people didn’t, but hey, she didn’t cook the food! So anyway I gave her a bigger tip than usual, the surprised look on her face! She just said, thank you so much. I always tip well anyway, but figured she needed something extra that day. So I hope I was her act of kindness that day.
Steve.
Thank you for sharing. It probably made her day and that much better. 😊