The Smallest Acts of Kindness

"Excuse me. Miss? Are these your keys?"

I watched as the woman turned back toward the coffee shop to face the man who'd spoken.

"Oh, yes. Thank you," she said and accepted the keys. "I left them on the counter, didn't I?"

The man nodded his head.

"I thought you might need them."

A smile lit her face and she thanked him again. Then she turned and hurried toward the stairs and the train.

I looked around at the others in the coffee shop. Most had witnessed the interaction and some were smiling quietly as was I. It's the little things, eh Ms J? We had seen the man's thoughtfulness and derived a moment's pleasure from it. His simple act of kindness had brought a little joy to perhaps half a dozen people, strangers all. I marveled at how it had rippled and spread.

He didn't have to take the woman her keys. He could have chosen to ignore them and leave them there by the cash register. But he didn't. He considered the inconvenience it would have caused her and chose to act. We say he was considerate, Ms J, because he considered her.

I'm an actor. I enjoy observing people in natural environments, doing what they do in ordinary and sometimes no-so-ordinary situations. I see little acts of kindness every day. Every single day. It pleases me so to see it, that I actually watch for it.

Someone will pause to hold a door for the person following. Someone will stoop to retrieve a coin and return it to its owner. A young man accepts his change at the store, then moves aside while he puts the money in his wallet to allow the next person to conduct their purchase. I even watched once as a man parked his car and raced off into a shop without putting money in the parking meter.

"Uh-oh," said a man standing nearby. "There's a cop just down the street and he's writing tickets."

He reached into his pocket, extracted a coin and fed the parking meter. It was only ten cents, Ms J, but the point is not his generosity, but rather his consideration for someone else. That's the part that thrills me.

Sure, I participate sometimes. I hold doors for people, and consider their feelings (usually) and try to think beyond the end of my nose. I do it and of course it feels good to help others. But for me, the real thrill comes in witnessing the kindness of someone else. That's what turns me on.

It doesn't take much, really. Only the smallest act of kindness. Try it sometime. Watch the ripples.

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