Show a Little Kindness

Last winter my sister was at the bus stop in the downtown area. We have a pretty little park right in the center of our downtown and it attracts a lot of street people so she wasn't surprised to see one of them sleeping on a bench. What got her attention was the fact that this man's one arm was hanging down and his hand appeared to be a greyish color. People were passing by and ignoring him as though he was invisible.

Sharon is no fool and knows that it can be dangerous to approach some street people because many of them are drug users and their behaviour can be unpredictable. Still she was unable to ignore this man and, using her cell phone, called 911 and asked to have a police officer check him out. She never did find out if the poor man was dead or alive because her bus arrived and she had to leave.

A couple of days ago I found myself in much the same situation. I had gone to the mall at 8 P.M. to pick up a friend returning from a bus tour and noticed a man lying on the sidewalk with his legs splayed onto the parking lot. There was a bike leaning precariously against the wall near him.

I wanted desperately to ignore him but my heart softened as I watched so many people and cars pass him by without a look. It hurt me to see how cold and uncaring we human beings can be. I was in no danger...it was still light out and there were plenty of people around so I walked over to him to see if he was all right.

I saw a young man in his early 20's, horribly sunburnt and lying on his back with his eyes closed. I leaned forward and asked him if he was okay and his eyes slowly fluttered open. He sort of jerked up to a sitting position and smiled at me, said he was fine and thanked me for caring. He reached his hand up to me and I reluctantly took it (I was still a little nervous about his mental health).

His eyes looked strange as though he was drugged but he continued to thank me and tried to pull my hand to his lips to kiss it. That's when the good samaritan in me was overcome by distaste and I pulled away.

I'm not sorry I took the time to check on this poor young man and I'd do it again. I don't ever want to get so jaded and uncaring that I could walk away from someone like that and never know if he was in need of help.

Showing someone kindness isn't a reflection of our own inner goodness but a reflection of what we human beings are capable of exhibiting. It's one of those human qualities that gets lost in our hustle bustle world if we're not careful.

The message here is "Show a little kindness. Appreciate little kindnesses". Immediately it's a better world.