One of the things I can't live without at work is my cuppa of ginger tea. Every single day without fail I walk up to that awesome tea stall at work and get my very own cup of gingery goodness. In fact, I have become so much of a regular there that I don't even have to utter a single word. One look at me in the queue and they have it ready. I love this trivial, seemingly insignificant but beautiful part of my day. That unspoken bond, transient yet wonderful, temporary yet permanent among strangers but not quite. An unspoken pact between individuals who don't even know each other's names. Beautiful, isn't it?
Like clockwork, I find myself at their counter, waiting to swipe my card and get my piping hot chai. Today however their machine wasn't working and sadly I didn't have any cash on me. That's when the boy behind the counter just gave me the coupon with a smile. Yes, a coupon for my usual order and without even saying a thing or me asking for it. When I said I'll get the cash and then come back for tea later, he just smiled and told me to enjoy the tea instead and to give him the cash later. Simple, sweet gesture, right? Somehow this touched my heart. It reminded me how kindness still resides in each one of us. It was something I needed to start my day, my daily dose of kindness.
Now that I think about it, there is so much good around me, around us actually but we somehow fail to notice it. Or, we do but choose to just go through life without acknowledging these small yet very significant deeds.
These past few days, I have tried to notice more, acknowledge these acts too. I have seen how people sometimes go out of the way to care when they really don't need to.
Most of you might know by now that I'm a working mom. I take a cab to my daughter's crèche, drop her there and then walk to work. While coming home too, I take a cab. It's difficult sometimes because I need to carry her along with her bag for the day which really is very heavy. A cab solves that problem partially by taking me directly to my apartment premises. It becomes slightly easier for me then. But on days when I can't find a cab, it becomes really difficult for me. But you gotta do, what you gotta do, right?
The other day when the same thing happened, I took the office bus back home. Somehow I alighted at the drop point with M, her stuff and crossed the busy road. But just as I entered through the gates of my apartment, one of the security guards came running to help me carry everything. He insisted on dropping me till the lift. Now if that isn't kindness or goodness of the heart then what is? Sometimes people really go above and beyond expectations, don't they?
I wonder why we, you and me, don't talk about these acts more. Why do we focus on the bad and not the good more?
There is this security guard who navigates traffic outside my office. Every day when I wait for the cab with the little one, burdened by the weight of the bags on me, he helps me get into the cab. In fact, he even holds the door for me and lets the cab stop in a no stopping zone for those few extra minutes. It's wonderful, isn't it? I don't know his name yet but maybe I should ask. Maybe just to call him by his name when I thank him?
Then there are some cab drivers who help me get all the bags down. Or, some just smile when M plays with me in the cab. They acknowledge that it's not easy what I do and they say that with their seemingly insignificant yet very significant gestures.
I have this colleague. She's in Melbourne now. Last year when I was pregnant, she would offer to fill my water bottle. On some days she would even cook for me. She didn't have to but she did anyway. If that's not being kind then what is? She used to worry that I skipped breakfast or never paid attention to it. She used to even get titbits just to enhance my taste and get me to eat something. Wonderful, isn't it, how people touch you in the most unassuming ways?
There really is so much good around us. I wish for a change, I can focus on that. Just focus on everything kind and all things nice.Will you join me?
What was the last kind thing done to you? Do share.
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