random act of kindness

This weekend I had an awesome time traveling back to Philadelphia and see a bunch of my old friends. I wanted to share with you something has stuck with me throughout the weekend.

As I sat on the Chinatown bus in DC waiting to leave, I noticed a blind man traveling up the street with his cane. He was dressed in a nice grey suit and tie and used his long white cane to make it to the street intersection. Then, he turned toward the street and raised his left hand. At first I was unsure about what he was doing, but I realized in his hand he was holding some change and was trying to hail a taxi. He stood there for what have been about 30 seconds but what felt like an eternity as countless taxis and people passed occupied or unaware.

Then something great happened. A man dressed in ragged clothes with a long beard approached the intersection and saw the blind man. The homeless man then urgently stood on the corner trying to hail down cabs, at one point he ran along a cab attempting to stop it. Finally, he caught a cabs attention and helped the blind man into the car. He watched the taxi pull away and continued down the road.

The entire episode took only about five minutes or so, but it really left an impression on me. The homeless man's actions were completely selfless. The blind man would never see the face of the man who had helped him into the cab, the homeless man had no idea that I sat on the bus watching... this was a true random act of kindness.

Witnessing this made me ask myself when the last time I did something kind for someone else without any selfish motives or strings attached. Consider how much better this world would be if only we acted more like that homeless man; if only we acted kindly towards others.