Have you ever watched a stranger being kind to another stranger?

There are some random acts of kindness that deserve blue ribbons. Most of us have expectations of politeness and don't speak about it. Rudeness on the other hand rarely goes unnoticed. Inadvertent rudeness is mostly acknowledged and accompanied by an apology. But occasionally I find myself witnessing a mundane act of kindness that makes me reflect, something that just seems uniquely genuine. I witnessed such an event at Walmart several months ago and the act of it, surprisingly, has changed me as a person. This act of kindness happened after my loss, making me wonder how many opportunities to witness something like that I've missed through the years, distracted from what was so important.

While standing in one of the larger aisles in the store an older woman holding an empty bottle of some over the counter product asked a female clerk, decades younger, for some help finding this in the store. The clerk had a mostly full cart of merchandise she was putting out and having been there before I had seen her working, working hard. She was busy leading me to believe that she only had so much time to get it done. It wouldn't surprise me to learn of tight schedules for those employees. But this employee put down her box and walked the other woman all the way to the front of the store in the pharmacy. I was about to head there myself, so I followed along. The older woman walked very so the employee slowed her pace to accommodate the customer. That walk took some time, and although I am aging myself now, I counted my blessings feeling like I was 20 years old in comparison. I admit to the 50-year fudge factor on that. We finally got to the pharmacy, and it so happened that what I was looking for was only about ten feet away from what that customer was interested in. I couldn't stop listening to their conversation. The older woman told the clerk she did not have her reading glasses with her, but she wanted something a little different than the empty bottle she carried. It just blew my mind what the clerk did. She told the lady she would read to her the contents printed on the boxes of three alternatives. I just stood there for several minutes listening to all this. The clerk leaned over as she spoke to make sure the woman could hear her. I've never seen something like that in my life. But she did even more than just read. She gave a little advice, why the customer might be better off with one of alternatives by first asking the woman if she struggled with one issue. That was an extraordinary act of kindness. The woman was incredibly grateful for the help. The clerk left and I later saw her working feverishly to catch up. I couldn't resist...I went to a supervisor and had the supervisor take me to the store manager and I relayed what I had witnessed. The clerk taught me a valuable lesson about kindness. It was to look beyond the obvious when you want to make a difference in life.

Sometimes the important part isn't the listening...it's your voice that needs to be heard....especially in grief. You are not invisible in my world....for as long as it takes.

 

I wanted to come back to this thread for a couple of reasons. The first being that although I've only been here a brief time, I'm hoping that all of us engage with each other and share our emotions, and so importantly, our perspectives on the things we read. That's the best way I believe I can learn how to cope in this changed life. I want to understand how I feel and explore further what I may confront in the months ahead. What I experienced above is changing my perspectives on a lot of things. Caring is at the top of the list. I can't feel whole if I don't find ways to care, and yet the caring is different now, more purposeful than ever. People here cannot fall through the cracks. We need to talk 'with' each other.

 

I witnessed kind behaviors in real life, also online. It’s just hard to find those things when I worry about my future or I just feel bad. Thanks for you notice that and post it.