Random Acts of Kindness
Random acts of kindness are a way to show grace through human form.
I remember when I got the call that my dad had died in a car crash.
I sat on the sidewalk next to my car… stunned. I didn’t even cry because it wasn’t real yet. All I knew was that I needed to go home. Now.
I pulled up the app and booked the first flight across the country to be with my mom and my family. I headed home to pack, and as I stood in front of an empty suitcase, too overwhelmed to decide what to pack, it hit me… I fell to my knees and began to cry. And then I realized, what about everything else! My pets, my clients in escrow, my commitments!
Friends swooped in to watch my dog and my cat.
My broker said everything would be taken care of for me.
The original flight I had to meet my parents for a vacation 48 hours from then needed to be canceled, and through choked back tears, the airline attendant kindly extended his condolences and assured a full refund. My best friend left her vacation to stand next to me at my dad’s funeral. 11 days later, I came home to flowers all over my home, a refrigerator full of food, even an UberEats gift card from my esthetician. My pets were well-loved, and snuggled into me as I crumpled onto my bed. My clients closed on their home. Everything was well-handled. It was in these acts of kindness I saw the grace of humanity.
Acts of kindness don’t necessarily need to be grand gestures or life-altering experiences. Sometimes it’s helping the mom with a toddler who is struggling with her luggage getting off the train in France, or noticing the homeless man and providing him with a blanket and fresh food and water. Or it can be a smile.
When I was training for half marathons, I ran… a lot. And when you’re outside running for miles, you tend to see a lot of people. I learned that when I smiled, people smiled back. And even when I was struggling up hills or on that 10th mile, that smile back made me happy. I always hoped that because I smiled, then they would smile at the next stranger they passed, and maybe that stranger would smile at another stranger, and the cycle would continue. A smile could change someone’s moment or even day.
In Venice on New Year’s Eve, I had no Euro, and laying in the street I found 10 Euro. Nobody around, nobody realizing anything had fallen, I picked it up knowing it would be put to good use. A few hours later, a man and his pup sat on one of the bridges. And something in him told me this 10 Euro was for him. I pulled it out and gave it to him. His eyes were big with gratitude, and I knew the Universe had meant that for him.
When we keep our hearts open, we feel nudged to certain acts of kindness. A card sent to an old friend, flowers for someone going through a rough patch in life, or even a hug to someone we barely know because we can feel their pain. It is our kindness that reminds others of the grace in the world.
Kindness is a beautiful thing, and can be woven into any part of our lives. Our colleagues, our clients, even the cross-agent that is making our lives hell… all of them deserve kindness. One of the sweetest things I encountered at the end of a transaction was the listing agent who left behind a bottle of champagne for my client after closing. The world can be dark and gloomy at times if we let it. Maybe all we need to do is smile.