Kindness to Strangers

Don Blohowiak talks about “small acts of kindness” in Leadership. Now. He passes along the advise of Michael Mercer to Do Unnecessary Acts of Kindness. Mike tells this story about an interesting experience he had once when reaching out to help: One day, while driving, I saw a frail, elderly lady at a busy street corner looking at cars zooming by. I figured she was having trouble crossing the street. So, parked my car, walked to her, and let her hold my arm as I stopped traffic and helped her slowly cross the street. When we got to the other side, I asked if she needed any more help. She sweetly smiled, and said to me, "Actually, I didn't want to cross the street." So, I asked her, "For what reason did you let me help you cross the street?" Tears welled up in her eyes as she explained, "The fact that you went out of your way to help me was the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time. And I didn't want to detract from your goodness." Mike makes a point of noting that he did help her back across the street! Michael Mercer recommends that we all do one or more totally "unnecessary acts of kindness" daily. As Don says, wouldn't that be something for which we could all give thanks?! Have you done an unnecessary act of kindness today?