This afternoon, I was taking a walk around my neighborhood and passed a middle-aged woman struggling with a large filing cabinet. She was attempting to drag it across her driveway to the curb for garbage pick-up. There were already several objects on the sidewalk in front of the house, and I noticed a “For Sale” sign in the yard. Shortly after passing her, I decided to turn back. I excused myself to the woman and asked her if she needed help. She looked relieved and accepted the offer. It took about two minutes to span the driveway and place the cabinet upright on the curb. I then introduced myself. She asked me if I thought she might get in trouble for having too many items on the sidewalk, and explained that she was in the middle of trying to sell the house and move. She was really grateful for my help, since there usually wasn't anyone at the house during the day. I suggested she call the cops to make sure she wouldn't get fined for cluttering the sidewalk, said “You're welcome” and “Have a nice day,” and continued my walk.
Not a very dramatic or extravagant interaction. The whole thing took about five minutes. Nor is it particularly unusual or praiseworthy for people to have a bit of sympathy for a stranger and help them out. In my life, and especially while traveling, strangers have lent me a hand hundreds of times. Yet as I walked away from the house, I felt a sense of joy for having made a positive impact on someone for at least a few minutes that day. Somehow, that tiny act of kindness and the conversation that proceeded it made today feel worthwhile. I know that it's not as if I rescued someone from a burning building, or talked someone off the ledge of a building. I'm also aware that, for every time I reach out to help, there are probably three or four times when I don't, either out of laziness or out of the belief that it would take up too much of my time (precious time that could be more productively used watching reality TV or catching up on my Netflix queue).
Toward the end of my walk, I realized why I felt so happy. Those brief moments of both giving and receiving acts of kindness reinforce for me the fact that, though our lifestyles, ethnicities, and religions may be different, we're all stuck in this world together. God made us as social creatures. He intended for us to be in positive relationships with one another rather than isolation. Not just with our family and close friends, or with the people that we encounter on a daily basis, but with everyone whenever possible. It doesn't take much to realize how often we fall short of His will for us. One has only to turn on the news to know that acts of kindness aren't in the agenda for many people in the world, those who care only for themselves and have no intention of allowing God's plan for peace and prosperity to overcome violence and poverty.
But in the midst of the insistent shout that the world is going to shit, that all is lost, that people are becoming more and more violent and that their hearts have grown cold, these small acts MATTER. Not in spite of the fact that there is evil in the world, not that we should ignore it or sweep it under the rug, but because of it. We are fighting a war against evil, a war whose outcome has already been decided by God. But the victory can be implemented and demonstrated through us, by kindling hope in others, warming hearts, showing people that there is yet good in the world. It is a war of ripples in a pond. Of real lives being changed for the better, bit by bit, through acts of kindness great and small, and of the recipients of that kindness finding a way to pass it on to someone else.
Later in the day, while writing this article, I remembered that I had been told by a neighbor that the woman's husband had recently passed away, and that she was moving because she couldn't afford to live in the house anymore. I found myself hoping that the woman would remember that a stranger had given her a hand, however briefly, in carrying some furniture. Nothing dramatic. Nothing extravagant. But something.
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