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Random Acts of Kindness:

The Domino Effect

Even in the dim twilight, Michael could see the elderly woman needed help.

As his sputtering Pontiac approached her crippled Mercedes, her frail index trembled. His smile seemed friendly enough, but no one else, in over an hour, had cared to stop. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe, he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened as well as wet and cold. He said, "I'm here to help you ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Michael."

Michael crawled under the car to look for a place to put the jack. As he worked, he skinned his knuckles a time or two. It was dirty work and his hands hurt but soon he was able to change her flat tire.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, the lady rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Michael just smiled as he closed her trunk. She asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been fine with her having imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.

To Michael, this was not a job for hire, this was helping someone in need. God knows, many people had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his life that way. It never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they needed. Michael added "...and think of me".

He waited until she successfully started her car and drove off. It had been a depressing day for Michael, but, for now, he felt good and headed home.

A few miles down the road the lady noticed a small cafe. She stopped to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before making the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her.

Just then, a waitress brought her a clean towel. "You poor thing," she said with a sweet smile, "You're all wet." The lady noticed that the waitress appeared to be nearly eight months pregnant and wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Michael.

After she finished her meal, and the waitress went to make change for her hundred dollar bill, the lady slipped out the door. When the waitress returned, she wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on a napkin. Under it she found four $100 bills.

With tearful eyes she read: "You don't owe me anything, I have been there too. Somebody once helped me the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me here is what to do... don't let this chain of kindness end with you."

There were still tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through the day. Arriving home from work, she parked her humble car behind her husband's old Pontiac.

As she climbed into bed, she thought about the money, the lady and the note on a napkin. With the baby due, it was going to be hard. She knew how very worried her husband had been.

She leaned over his sleeping body and gave him a soft kiss. "Everything's going to be all right," she whispered, "I love you, Michael."

More Kindness Stories

March 19-26 is Anonymous Giving Week:

Random Acts of Kindness is the theme. Donuts on the snack table, cookies on a co-workers desk are the answer.

Random Acts of Kindness:
A history of the movement

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Have you heard the phrase?

Have you seen it on a bumper sticker? A t-shirt?

This page has some information about the phrase, the man who created it and other sites you might want to visit.

In the spring of 1993, Professor Chuck Wall was teaching a human relations class at Bakersfield College. He was pondering his next class assignment and was half listening to the radio news when he heard: 'We have another random act of senseless violence to report.'

In the seconds that followed, he coined the phrase. 102900a.gif (23106 bytes)

'I just took out the word "violence" and stuck in the word "kindness". All of a sudden I had a great phrase that turned a negative into a positive.'

Later that day he walked into his classroom, and told eighteen students, ranging in age from 18 to 67, to pick up their pens. The week's assignment: 'Today I will commit one random act of senseless kindness.'

031400a.gif (52675 bytes) Wall says that hands went up and the students seemed confused. One student complained: 'I don't know what I'm supposed to do.'

Wall explains: 'They wanted me to tell them what kindness was about. I insisted they figure it out for themselves.'

When the class met next, one week later, the students were the most animated that he had ever seen. Each had a story to tell.

Shane Gautreaux, 20, had distributed blankets he'd bought from the Salvation Army to a group of homeless people who lived under Bakersfield's Beale Street overpass.

Lisa Holiman, 28, had rescued a ragged stray collie, bathed and fed it, then put up posters trying to find the dog's owners. One day later, the collie was reclaimed.

Jo Marshall, 55 and recently divorced after 37 years of marriage, set aside her anger at her then-out-of-work former husband and counseled him on how to obtain an extension on his unemployment benefits.

4115401 copy.jpg (18873 bytes) And Jessica Fredericksen, 41, committed perhaps the ultimate act of generosity: Spying a harried motorist circling the student parking lot, she pulled out of the space she had just taken and waved him in.

Wall: 'What was important to me was the impact the assignment had on them personally."

The students began their own campaign. They printed bumper stickers: 'Today, I will commit one random act of senseless KINDNESS . . . Will you?'

It was the beginning. The county sheriff (Carl Sparks) ordered 150 for his patrol cars. Businesses began to underwrite the printing costs and the students, now making a dollar on each sticker, began donating the proceeds to the Kern County Braille Center: Chuck Wall is blind.

A Few Practical Ideas

* Give flowers to random people to brighten their day.

* Pay the toll of the car behind yours on a bridge.

* Smile at everyone.

* Pay for someone's meal anonymously.

* Bake someone cookies.

* Watch friend's children while they go out on their anniversary.

* Adopt a stray animal.

* Smile at the bus driver.

* Give a lottery ticket to a stranger.

* Compliment a stranger sincerely.

* Buy biscuits for other's dogs when out on walks.

* Draw flowers on the envelopes you mail.

* Drive a neighbor without a car to the market.

* Treat someone to a movie and buy the popcorn.

* Include a note or joke in your child's backpack.

* Shovel your neighbor's sidewalk or mow their lawn.

* Put a quarter in a parking meter that has expired.

* Send someone a small gift anonymously.

* Write something nice about the waiter or waitress on the back of your bill.

* Hold the door of the train or bus for someone rushing to catch it.

* When you see something that is perfect for someone you know, buy it for them, even if it isn't Christmas or their birthday.

* Write a note of appreciation to your mailman or milkman.

* Give up your place in line at the grocery store to the person with just one item.

* Invite someone who is alone, to an Easter, Thanksgiving, or Sunday dinner.

* Give out hot cocoa to people on their way to
work in the morning.

* Write a note to the boss of someone who has helped you, praising their employee.

* Give another driver your parking spot.

* Write a thank-you note to a person from your past who has made a difference in your life.

* Drop off a plate of cookies to the police or fire department.

* When visiting in a hospital, spend a few minutes with someone who has no visitors.

* Adopt a senior citizen or grandparent.

* Surprise a poor family with a food basket at Thanksgiving or Christmas.