A Simple Act of Kindness...

I wish to take this morning to share something extraordinary that occurred as I was walking in to get my much needed dose of caffeine after a sunrises 6-miler...

It was the start to an ordinary Friday. Traffic seemed a bit sparse, the rain left the roads twinkling in the glare of the moonlight mixed with streetlamps, and I was rocking out to some serious Mumford and Sons. I was feeling a bit tired after waking up at 4:45am to tackle a long run with the lovely roommate, so of course a coffee stop on the way to work was inevitable.

Upon arriving to the Starbucks parking lot. I noticed an older man drive up and park his car in the handicap spot. I put my Rav in park, got out and walked past his Honda, noticing he didn't have a handicap sticker in his window. I immediately had the though, "Gosh, that's selfish of him" just before seeing him struggle out of the front seat, wincing and limping up onto the sidewalk to come inside. Strike One, Maxann...

I put my tail between my legs and walked into the coffee shop. The door was held open for me and the old man struggling behind me by another man in a pants suit on his cell phone. "Thanks" I told him. The old man behind me stayed silent. "Gosh, he seems ungrateful" I thought to myself again too quickly...

But something tapped my conscious as I got up towards the front of the line that told me to let this old man ahead of me. For what reasons, I couldn't explain... Hadn't I already made up my mind that this man was selfish ungrateful?  But I motioned toward the counter, nodded my head and spoke, "You can go ahead sir. I am still deciding." He looked at me, limping forward, and whispered, "Thanks", just before coughing into his sleeve. The man sounded like he lost his voice due to a cold. Strike two, Maxann.

The man ordered his coffee, I ordered mine, we both received our coffee and walked out towards the pavement. As I was crossing the lot to my car, the man turned to face me, we caught eyes, and to my surprise spoke soft and kindly, "I hope you have a great day, Miss. You just turned mine around by your kindness." I stood in front of him, bewildered and taken-aback. He smiled a weak yet pronounced, struggled into his front seat, and drove away.

The morals of the story are of two lessons learned in that short 10 minute interaction with this random man at a random coffee house on an idle Friday morning. Don't judge others. You have no idea where a person is coming from and the battles they've been fighting to get them to this place and in this time. And secondly, never be afraid to give a simple act of kindness to any one person. Whether that be holding the door, helping pick up dropped groceries, or allowing them ahead of you in the coffee line... it will mean something to some one- enough to make someone's bad day better. And there shouldn't be any other goal at the end of the day than that- to make an impact on a stranger. (Cross that off the bucket list!)