Accepting the warmth of kindness
Random Acts of Kindness
Sometimes, people amaze me with their spontaneous acts of kindness.
There I was yesterday, walking home from school. I came across one of our neighbors talking to my mom, who was out walking the dog. I stopped and chatted for a bit. Our elderly neighbor asked about me and my quinzhee, and whether I was staying warm. Eventually, a car pulled up. The driver was there to work for our neighbor. I was introduced as the guy who was sleeping outside, the driver said, “Oh, yeah, I read about you in the paper. How do you stay warm, kid?”
“Um…” I said. “Lots of layers and a good snow cave.”
He nodded for a moment, then motioned me over to his car. Handing me a twenty, he said, “Take this and buy whatever you need to stay warm, okay?” He didn’t even know I was fundraising. He just wanted to help.
There you go. He was a complete stranger. I still don’t know his name. But thanks to his random act of kindness, we’re twenty dollars closer to our goal. So… Whoever you are, thank you. And the rest of you: thank you, too. For the contributions, for the encouragement, for everything. Thank you.
What about you?
What’s the nicest thing a stranger has done for you? Share your story in a comment on this post and we’ll try to include it in a future post.
Anyway, here’s the rest of the Q&A, as promised.
Q: Aren’t you afraid you will freeze to death in your sleep? Don’t you get cold?
A: I have never yet been truly cold while sleeping outside. I have complete confidence that even if I do get cold, I’ll wake up before it becomes too serious. My mom and I have an agreement that if I start to shiver, I have to go inside, but that has yet to happen, and hopefully it never will.
Q: What do you have planned for your next adventure? (If you survive this one:)
A: I have no idea! I usually don’t think very far in advance when it comes to new personal challenges. I’m sure something will crop up, but until it does, I’m clueless.
Random act of kindness…. about 20 years ago I drove alone from Ohio to Nebraska. I ended up with a flat tire on the freeway in Illinois not far from a rest area. As a female traveling alone, I knew it wasn’t a great idea to talk with strangers. Yet, a trucker saw me in the rest area parking lot, changed the tire and left. All in less than 15 minutes. I’m still very grateful for the help of that stranger. There are many kind people in this world and we stumble upon them when we least expect it.