Random acts of kindness

I think the world needs more random acts of kindness. I was reminded of this on my morning bus ride yesterday.

The bus stopped to let someone off and pick someone up. It was a damp, cold morning. The man waiting to get on the bus stood and waited for an elderly woman to get off first. She was having some difficulty so he lent her his left, mitten-clad hand and helped her off of the bus. Not only did this make her smile, but it made me smile too.

Last year on my way to lunch with coworkers, a rushed city worker walking in front of me dropped a dollar. I picked it up and ran after him. He was walking so fast that I ran after him through the courtyard in front of a building, into the building and up the escalator before I finally caught up to him. "You dropped this," I said to him. He smiled and graciously took his dollar from me. "Thanks." And I never saw him again.

I received some criticism from my male coworkers about my dedicated intent to give this man his dollar back, but I didn't care. It may have only been a dollar, but he seemed appreciative and it made me feel good too.

Yesterday evening on the bus ride home, I sat with my headphones on doing my usual Facebook, Pinterest and Huffington Post check-ups when I had a sneeze attack. These are not unusual for me especially when I am surrounded by people in a small area. Something about the combination of smells makes me sneeze every time. So I sneezed. A man sitting a few seats away made a point to say "Bless you" to me. That also made me smile.

Random acts of kindness in this cruel world are heart warming and necessary. Have you committed a random act of kindness lately? You should. It goes a long way.