Kindness Goes A Long Way (8.11.2024)

I heard the story the other day about a young college student who loved running.  It was great exercise and made him feel better.  One day he was running so long and feeling so good that he lost track of time and where he was in the city.  The city was a small college town, but he was not familiar with every part of it.  He needed directions and was very thirsty.  He began to knock on doors in the small neighborhood he found himself lost in.  After a number of unanswered doors, finally a young woman opened a door asking the question, “Can I help you?”  The young man was so thirsty and tired, and she was so beautiful, that he forgot what he wanted.  She concluded, “you look thirsty?” and immediately went to get him a glass of water.  Afterwords she offered to get him some milk and cookies. After he ate them on the front steps, he offered her a payment, but all he had was .10 cents on him.  She told him no need, “my mother taught me never to accept payment for a true act of kindness!”  After some directions, he thanked her and restarted his run back to school.

Over 20 years went by when that young lady was on vacation in the big city on the other side of the country.  While visiting there she got unexplainably sick, and was rushed to the emergency room of the local hospital.   Her disease was so rare that many doctors dropped by to check on the case.  One particular doctor after finding out what city she was from, took great interest in her case.  Sadly, she had to be in the hospital for almost 4 months and had several surgeries.  When she finally got home, she waited for the bill with great fear.  How much would her insurance cover?  How long will it take to pay off what she knew would be a large bill.  The doctor who had been monitoring her case asked the business office to send him the bill to make sure all of the charges were correct, before sending it to the patient.   Finally, the thick bill did come, and she opened it with nervous hands.  When she read the 5 pages of charges, she looked at the final page that was in the 10’s of thousands, she saw a small note that said, “Paid for with a glass of water and some milk and cookies.”  The doctor recognized her when he first saw her as the young woman that helped him when he was a lost college student.  She did not recognize him until she got the bill.  It was a random act of kindness that changed both of their lives. 

Another story I heard was of a neighborhood grocery store owner who tried to help when he could.  A young boy around 9 or 10 who regularly came into the store to buy food for himself and his family, the story goes there came a time where the young boy came up a few dollars short of the price that was needed.  The owner asked what else do you have that could pay for it?  The little boy said, “I can give you some of my marbles.”  The owner said, “Let me look at them,” after he looked at them, he said none were the right color, but if you could get a blue marble, that would be enough payment.   The next time the young boy came in; to buy more food, he brought several blue marbles.  The owner said, “This is not the right color blue.  I thought I like blue, but I think I need red marbles.  I will put this on your bill, and when you bring some red marbles, that will be payment.”  This went on for several years, and the boy never seemed to have the right color marbles that the owner wanted to see.  Sadly, the owner died. At the funeral 3 young men showed up, two of them were in military uniform.  After visiting the body of the owner in the casket, they spoke to the widow of the owner.  They spoke to her for a few minutes, kissed her on the cheek and left. Another businessman seeing all that happened, went to the widow and asked to speak to her.  He told her of years ago, he saw him give food away for a look at a marble. The widow said, “I know, those 3 young men that just left, were all telling me the same story. He gave them food for their family if they could show him some marbles.  But every time they brought marbles in for payment, it was the wrong color. “Then she said, “Go look in the casket, they said they left something in there with him.”  The businessman went to the casket, lifted up the owner’s hand, and then he saw 3 marbles came rolling out.  This time he could not reject them for being the wrong color. 

I am told that both of these stories are true stories. We live in a very busy world. Sometimes it seems as this world is getting meaner and meaner. Calling people names, putting down each other has become a professional sport, and some are very good at it.  Could one act of kindness really change a person’s life? 

There is something in our body called, oxytocin that gets released every time we do an act of kindness.  It is believed that it makes us feel better and gives us a shot of joy. 
As we come to the end of another summer, find a way to get another shot of joy!