Kindness: A Compliment

I spend a good amount of time on public transportation. In case you haven't noticed. And public transportation is really just a gathering of all corners of humanity. I am eagle-eyed for kindness in such places, particularly because kindness seems scarce at those times - it's all, get out of my personal space!, where the crap is the train!, SIGH!, sheesh!, UGH!

So, I put some kindness out into the world. You see, I spotted a girl on my morning commute wearing a really cute skirt. It was a plaid one, but with a little more pizzaz than usual. And, wouldn't you know it, I found the same girl standing right beside me on my commute home. So I took some action and paid her a compliment - I really like your skirt. Just a little compliment, but it made her smile. Just a tiny kindness for a stranger.

Kindness: Spare Change

This week has been a busy week of lunchtime errands. It's almost Thanksgiving and I had a lot of things to do before we're gone for a whole week.

On Tuesday, I headed over to Newbury Street to make an exchange at one of the shops. On the way, I was accosted by one of those non-profit sellers. You know, the people on every street corner in busy areas of the city asking if you care about the children, the polar bears, the trees or any array of things that, yes, I do care about, but not enough to stand there and talk to you and give you my credit card information. I can make charity donations on my own, and I'm sorry you're getting commission off of trapping people on the street.

I quickly dismissed the latest charity hawker and was, again, stopped by someone else on the sidewalk. I almost just ignored him and kept walking, tired of the barrage interrupting my quick errand. But I didn't. I stopped and let him to his schpiel. He was a homeless man selling the homeless paper - Spare Change. Selling the volunteer-run paper is a way for the homeless to make a little extra money. I'd always see those guys, just never stopped to talk or get a paper. I asked how much it was. He said whatever I wanted to give, "Maybe $5?" Well, all I had was a one bill and a twenty. So I gave him a dollar. And then emptied my change into his open hands - which, to be honest, there was at least another two dollars in there.

A little change to help him make a big one.

Kindness: A Bunch

This past weekend one of my friends was in town. She works for a blindness non-profit and was up here to volunteer at one of their walks. So Saturday morning we got up bright and early to lend a hand. There were some refreshments at the walk, and, after all the walkers had walked their feet right on out to their cars to head home, there was still a bunch left over. Specifically bananas and bagels. Crates of them. Us volunteers discussed it and everyone grabbed a handful. And there were still crates and crates left. So we discussed again and decided someone would take a load to one of the local soup kitchens.

On our drive home, a homeless man was at an intersection asking for money. Instead of offering him money, we asked if he wanted some (leftover) bagels. Nope, a no on the bagels - too tough it seems. Wait, we have bananas too. Yes please! So I jumped out of the car and opened the trunk and gave him a few bananas off one of our bunches. A little snack for the day. And a little bunch of kindness.

Kindness: Bless You

If anyone has been around me for a reasonable amount of time, co-workers or friends or family, you know that when I sneeze, I go all out. Not in the one-sneeze-that'll-blow-your-house-down kind of way. Nope. It's more of a I'll-sneeze-three-million-times-in-a-row kind of way. Medium sneezes, but minimum of about four at a time in quick succession, usually six. I think my record is nine.

If around strangers, someone will bless me after the first one. When the second one goes, they bless again. But after that, they stop. Usually to be followed up with a final bless you and a comment like 'are you OK?!' or 'how many was that?' or just a 'jeez!'

One evening last week I was exiting the train at my home station when a sneezing fit came on. I had rushed to get on the train, so I was in the back instead of the usual front, which meant I had to walk the full length of the platform to the exit. Sneezing away, I walk-sneezed down the platform along side the train. As our train was emptying, the train on the opposite side of the platform was getting ready to depart. Mid-way through the departing subway train, a second conductor sat. He must have watched me walk-sneezing down the platform, because, when I passed by, sneezing my grand finale I heard a, "Bless you." I looked around, and, again, having been at the back of the train, it was rather sparse. That's when I realized that it had been the conductor, all the way from across the platform.

Kindness: Neighbors

One of my good friends turned thirty recently, joining me in the next decade of our lives. She told me a great story when we went out for drinks a few nights later.

On the eve of her birthday, Friend had been hanging out with some buddies and got home late that night. Upon returning to her building, she found something unexpected. Nestled in her doorway was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card. Hm, wonder who stopped by, she thought. Not to mention, how'd they get into the building? Pleasantly puzzled, she let herself into her apartment and opened the card: Some special people make the world brighter just by being in it...happy 30th birthday!, it read. Signed: James & Deborah "your Boston parents"

A-MAZ-ING.

Flash back to a few months before - some new neighbors had moved into Friend's building. She ran into the couple in the hall and they chatted for a while. They were about her parent's age and had recently decided to move into the city, selling their house in the country now that their kids were grown and gone. Friend mentioned, just briefly in passing, that her birthday was coming up soon, September 1st to be exact.

A-MAZ-ING. Just a tiny comment during a brief conversation. Just something mentioned and moved past. But they remembered. They remembered Friend's special day. And made her special day in the process. A random act of kindness, neighbor to neighbor.

Kindness: Supplies

I can't believe it's basically the end of the summer. I mean, technically August is summer, but September is right around the corner. And while kids up here in New England haven't boarded a big yellow bus to start the 2010-2011 school year, kids down south have. Shocking.

Yesterday, Husband and I decided to donate to some schools. I had just read an article about a website that you could do that through. I had donated that way in the past and thought it was really neat, but couldn't remember the site I used (I've since remembered). You can go on to the site(s) and look up classrooms by school name, city, state, teacher, etc. You can also find out school stats including their poverty / free lunch levels. You can read all about the projects teachers are trying to fund or see a list of materials that they need.

I spent a year working in a school as an assistant second grade teacher. It was a nice, fairly well funded school, but all the teachers were still in need of things; letters constantly went home to parents about classroom needs - tissues, hand sanitizer, a new pencil sharpener. Now, working at a company, I can literally just walk upstairs, browse the supply room and grab all the pens and paperclips I need. In schools, there's no such thing. Teachers have to provide almost all their supplies themselves. This is particularly hard for first-year teachers, as teachers build up their supplies over the years. First-year teachers are starting from a blank slate, an empty classroom with empty pockets, having just graduated from school.

Think about your first days of school: how exciting it was to walk into a new classroom, how exciting it was to see all the books and the cushy beanbag chairs in the reading nook, how exciting it was going to be doing new projects. Now imagine a classroom with paltry bulletin board decorations, with just a few books on a shelf in the corner, without the opportunity to watch butterflies grow from cocoons, to see how tangrams can make all sorts of animals, to use cuisinaire rods to learn math skills. Sad isn't it?

So take a minute and a few dollars and donate. Since it's almost fall. Since teacher assignments are coming in the mail. Since school buses are getting shined up and tuned up and prepped for service. Since some kids are buying new backpacks and lunchboxes, while others' moms are sewing up holes in last year's.

Here are some sites. I'm sure there are other resources in your local area, too.

Donors Choose
I donated here in the past

I Love Schools
Here are the classrooms we donated to this year - 1 in each state we grew up in, and 1 where we now live. Donate with us or search the site for one that interests you.
Dorchester, MA
Chapel Hill, NC
Andalusia, AL

Kindness: Large Luggage

Yesterday, when on my epic commute into work, I ran across a kindness.

Husband and I were making our way from the Red line to the Orange line of the subway which involved some substantial stairs. While rushing down the right side of the staircase, someone was lugging a suitcase up the left side. In fact, she was helping another woman carry the giant piece of luggage.

Well, that was a kindness right there – a stranger helping a tourist (or I guess she could be a resident) carry her bags up the stairs. But what made it even nicer was the fact that the helper wasn’t even going the same direction as the woman in need. Because a few minutes later, she showed up on our platform, where we were waiting for our next train. So she must have been on her way somewhere, gotten to the bottom of the stairs en route to our platform, see the woman struggling and decided to help out by going back up the stairs with the suitcase. Even though it was out of her way.

Which is exactly what makes a great kindness – going out of your way to help someone.