I hope to one day be the stranger upon who’s kindness is depended….

There are a lot of things that go into making this world a better place. There is so much wrong with the world, that it’s hard to know a good starting point. It’s hard to find a place to jump in. Fortunately, we aren’t required by any pact or bond that says we have to change the world by the end of the week, so starting off small isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Realistically, I think it’s the only way to go.

Wednesday afternoon, a man walked into a local retailer and made his way to the layaway area of the store. The man found a seat near the counter and made himself comfortable. Then he waited. Several people passed the man and paid him little to no mind, not even so much as a “how do you do?” And still the man waited. After some time a customer finally approached the counter and asked to make a payment on her layaway account. The cashier pulled up the account and as the lady went to hand the cashier the money, the old man stood, walked over to the cashier, and handed her the money to pay for the entire layaway. The cashier and the lady stood in amazement, thanking the old man for his kindness. The old man said “it was nothing”, and proceeded back to his seat. Shortly after that, a man came in to make a payment on his layaway account. Again, the old man came in a paid the account, in full, for the stranger. The man thanked the old man for his generosity, and again the old man said “it was nothing,” and proceeded back to his seat.

Shortly after these two customers had their transactions, a third customer approached the counter. She was a young lady with two kids in her cart and very visibly had a third on the way. The young lady approached the counter and said to the cashier that she would like to cancel her layaway, she was not going to be able to get it paid off before it was due to be out and they wouldn’t be able to afford the gifts for her children. As before, the old man waited for the cashier to pull up the account, at which time he approached the counter, and handed the cashier the money for the layaway. The young lady was stunned by the old man’s generosity. She thanked the man and gave him a hug. The old man simply said, “it was nothing.” At this point the old man turned and walked right out the front doors of the store.

We can’t always make the big impacts. We can’t stop hunger, or illness. But we can do something. Even if to us “it was nothing.”