The Gift of Kindness

You ever have an experience that has a lifetime influence on the rest of your life, on how you view other individuals and on how you conduct yourself with others. I cannot remember the exact details of the day that it happened, but I do remember the profound effect it had on my ability to feel empathy for others. It allowed me to place myself in another person's shoes as it had been done so for myself as a child. You can imagine that the environment that a child is raised in has a significant role on how they will later view their world and this moment in my life allowed my view of the world to change in a grand way.

I grew up in a low income family, with parents that had the misfortune of not graduating high school. They came from a time where their family did not see the importance of a diploma and the value it would have in their financial future. Rather, their family valued work more, and so my parents worked at an early age. My mother was a stay at home wife, who took care of the house while my father was a car mechanic, one who was trained on the job, but never certified, which would have afforded him more pay if he had pursued that avenue. With five children, it was tough making enough money to even spare some for our necessary needs. Needless to say, my siblings and I knew the importance of money as we became more aware of the society we were being raised in.

In my state, around the time of the Christmas season, there are programs that low income families can sign up for, ones that provide help in donating food and gifts for children, that otherwise would have a sad holiday. My mother happened to sign up for such a program, but little did she know, by doing so, she would cause a chain effect that would make our Christmas that year more remarkable than all the others before. This simple act of signing her name in a donation program would grant her the opportunity to be interviewed by a news reporter spreading the word of unfortunate families that were unable to afford gifts for their children. Through this report, an unknown group of individuals would decide to sponsor our family for that Christmas.

I cannot remember the exact date the donation date was appointed, but I do remember waiting in our living room, wearing a coat as our home did not have central heat. My siblings and I were excited as we awaited our sponsor. We would continuously look out the front door’s window to see if they had arrived yet.

Before I describe the rest of the story, let me note that our house was situated at the end of a T-street, so we had a great view of the upcoming street. What we saw when our sponsors finally made their appearance made my families eyes and mouth open wide in shock. It was not one, two or even three vehicles that arrived, but what seemed like a train of vehicles, at least in my eyes. The details of the event are grainy, to say the least, but I do remember the awe it sparked in me as I watched all these vehicles make their way to our home. All these people had made it a point to make our Christmas a great one. I told you before that as a child I learned fast the importance of money, so to see this many people come to our house, donating their time and money to provide us gifts and food for a family they did not know, left a mark on my soul.

From that moment on, what was more important than money, was kindness. The ability to help others when in need. To put myself in someone else’s shoes and see it from their perspective. These people had not judged my parents for their life choices, instead offering a helping hand in a time of need. I do not remember the material gifts received upon that day, but I do remember the gift of kindness and understanding they gave me and my family when they selflessly decided to sponsor our family, and it is a gift that has lasted my entire life.

I know that our family was fortunate that year, and that many others were likely not as lucky as ours. As an adult, I always seek to help when I can, in whatever capacity that is available to me at the moment. I do not judge those whom others would sneer at for whatever may appear at first to be bad life choices because I know that I do not have their entire story. Instead, I chose to be kind and understanding because it could easily be someone I know or myself in that predicament, and treat them as such. It is because of this moment in my life that I wholeheartedly believe that kindness towards others instills humanity, and that the use of money without heart is detrimental to humanity. One simple act of kindness has the power of changing a person’s inner being and sparking an awe-inspiring chain reaction that can quite possibly change the world, at least from the perspective of the recipient of that kindness.