Random acts of kindness
I was on the bus the other day, heading to Berkeley to teach a class and instead of hiding my face behind a book like I normally do, I decided to simply watch. The bus was packed full of people and in a rare event, Oakland was having an extremely warm day, so the bus was about 15 degrees hotter inside with all of the body heat. As I sat in my seat I saw a homeless man who seemed to be a little crazy taking up extra seats with his legs stretched out, mumbling to himself, nothing out of the ordinary here really. But I noticed that anytime anyone sat next to him or near him, he cracked a joke and made that person laugh. One woman laughed loudly and shook her head and thanked the man for making her smile today because she was having a really bad day. This homeless man nodded his head and went back to mumbling to himself until the next person came along. At one point he jumped to the aid of a woman in a wheelchair who was struggling trying to get her hands in the straps so she could hold on, smiling and mumbling the whole time. A few stops later, he did not hesitate to give up his seat to an old man who couldn’t keep his balance with the jerking of bus. I watched the man as he mumbled and talked to himself and when I got off the bus I suddenly felt a million times better. Even though I was not having the best day, watching that man just be nice to perfect strangers just made me feel better.
On the way back home, the bus was even more full, a hundred degrees hotter and everyone including the bus driver had a major attitude. However, a blind woman got on the bus and for at least three stops everyone sat and watched her struggle to stand up as the bus jerked and pulled its way down the street. A young woman who had gotten on a few stops before the woman and was laden with at least 10 bags, got up and let the blind woman have her seats. It took her a couple of minutes to get all of her bags out of the way but the blind woman could not have been more grateful. When the young lady with the bags exited the bus, one of the men on the bus helped her with get off the bus with her bags before jumping back on the bus.
As I was sitting there watching all of this, the woman sitting next to me suddenly tapped the man sitting in front of us on his shoulders and said something to him before touching his hair and pulling a spider out of his hair. Now we are not going to into why he had the spider in his head, but it was the fact that she was nice enough to do something about it. As we all know I don’t do spiders, so I probably would have alerted the man it its presence, but that’s about it...I’m just sayin’. But it was nice to see people taking care of other people.
Helping friends out in a time of need with groceries or gas or even rent just because you love someone often goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Being supportive of someone, even if they don’t support you is something that is difficult but can be so beneficial to our spirits, just like praying for people who have done you wrong and wishing those people well. These are random acts of kindness and they are not as distant a memory as I once thought. People are nice to each other and there is still a general sense of kindness in our society. The problem is that often we are too involved in our own worlds to notice the needs of other people. But on an occasion it’s good to keep your nose out of your book and just look around. Seeing all of those little things the other day really inspired me to just try and be more attentive and most importantly, nice.
Peace Y’all
B