The Smallest Good Deed

There's a thousand different ways to do something good for others. And millions of people do them every day. There're the obvious ones: giving money, donating food, offering assistance to friends or family in need, volunteering for a good cause and so many more. When I'm able, I do these things, but right now, times have been hard, like they are for so many people. I'm financially strapped and working two jobs, while also job hunting because one of them is about to be terminated. I'm exhausted, anxious and stressed. I don't have much left to give, monetarily, physically or emotionally.

But there’s something I can always give no matter how little I have. I can be considerate of others. One of the jobs I work is a retail position. I see my fellow coworkers being as worn down, tired and frustrated as I am. But what I also see is them taking all of that out on the customers they’re supposed to be helping. They’re slow to assist customers, uncaring about how good a job they do, and downright disrespectful when it comes to handling customers with complaints or problems. They can’t even be bothered to muster the basic decency to smile in welcome or try to be understanding to the plight from the customer’s perspective.

That lack of consideration, that failure to perform the smallest of good deeds, disappoints me beyond what I can describe in words. Decent human beings should behave better than that.

So giving everyone the most basic act of kindness, being considerate toward them, is what I strive to do every moment of everyday. Always smiling, always projecting optimism and an easy good-natured attitude, even if I’m tired or stressed, and always giving them the benefit of the doubt until they prove to me otherwise. The smallest good deed I can do for anyone, whether family, friend, or stranger, is to not burden them with my own worries, press upon them my own biases and prejudices, or leave them with unpleasant memories. Everyone has their own problems, issues and stresses to worry about. I don’t need to be one more thing that gives them a bad day, one more thing they might brood on, or that might fester in the back of their mind, breeding itself into anxiety, fear or hatred and go on to inflict itself upon yet more people.

That’s not to say I bottle up all my emotions to the detriment of my own mental health. I have my outlets, and my confidants, people I know I can talk with without it being a burden to them. But I don’t need the entire world to be my therapist, or my punching bag.

I also don’t always succeed. It’s true you can’t please everyone. There’s always someone that’s going to take issue with what you do or say, no matter how considerate you try to be, but to assume everyone is going to be like that, and use that as the excuse to not even try, is to give up on a fundamental aspect of being human: empathy.

The smallest good deed I’ve done this year, and a good deed you too can do for other people, is to be considerate and empathetic. Try to understand their perspective and reasons for acting how they do. You might also learn something new or gain insight into the people around you. Also try not to thrust your own burdens upon others. It won’t make your burden any lighter. It just makes theirs heavier.

And remember, everyone is the main character in their own stories. You’re a main character in just one story, your own, but you’re a side character in hundreds, if not thousands of other stories, and even the seemingly most insignificant side character can have a huge impact and effect on another person’s story. You don’t have to become their hero. In fact, most times they won’t even remember you, or know what you did for them. But don’t become their villain. Don’t be the reason to bring more negativity into the world.