It's not often you get to hear about, let alone witness, the power of kindness when all you see in the news is negativity and hatred. Yet, I recently had the chance to observe two acts of kindness that overwhelmed me and I felt compelled to share my story.
To set the scene, I had just watched the movie "Dope" (great movie that I highly recommend) at a mall in Miami and wanted to grab dinner. I walked over to the food court, grabbed some food and took a seat to enjoy my meal.
Directly in front of me was a family of three. A father, white, most likely in his 50s. A wife, white, probably in her upper 40s and a daughter, white, whom I'd guess to be between the ages of 7-9 years old. Based on the mall I was in and the family's attire, I'd presume they were pretty well off financially. Being within earshot of them, I could tell they were from a different country but it was difficult to make out which one.
As I occasionally observed the family in between playing on my phone, I saw that they were close to finishing their meals. However, I noticed that the daughter seemed to have been disappointed in her meal as there was quite a bit left on her plate. As they began to pack up their things, I noticed that they weren't sure whether to throw away their trays or leave it on the table.
As they stood up, a black man with a very slender figure made his way to their table. I'd image this man was no taller than 5'3 and weighed no more than 95 lbs soaking wet. As he politely made his way to the table, the family acknowledged his presence and sensing his reason for coming to the table, left their trays for him.
When the man sat down, I made the assumption that he was homeless. His clothes were ruffled and dirty. His hair was matted. His skin was dried up and his feet, in sandals, appeared in rough condition.
The man stared at the food for what seemed like an eternity and after a few moments, began to eat. He didn't seem to be overly hungry as he ate at a steady pace. I say that because there have been times I've seen homeless individuals scarf down food as if they hadn't ate in days. He appeared content. He appeared...thankful.
Halfway through my meal at this point, I would occasionally make eye contact with him and nod in acknowledgement. I would then look around and watch as other people stared at the man and made snap judgements with their eyes. Judgements that were not pleasant to say the least.
As the man was finishing his first meal, leftover chinese food, a person walked behind him and without hesitation, the man pulled the chair next to him up so that the person could get through. A small gesture that struck a chord with me. Something about this man was different.
My mind began to wander, "Was this man a person with an unfortunate past?" "Why was he homeless?" "Why was he so seemingly polite and content compared to other homeless encounters I had witnessed?"
All of a sudden as my mind asked a million questions, the little girl from the family of 3 reappeared. In her hand, a large drink, seemingly of water. She made her way to the man, offered him the drink and as he politely gave his thanks and appreciation, she smiled and walked away.
As the man turned to see where the little girl came from, he locked eyes with the mother and as the man said, "thank you," the mother lipped "your welcome," seemingly overcome with emotion apparent in her watery eyes and delicate smile.
In that moment, a flood of emotion came over me. A man, seemingly fighting for his life, trying to make ends meet was just given a small gift from a family that in any other script of life would have done anything but help this man.
It was such a beautiful moment. A moment showcasing that there are people in this world willing to help others with no intention of getting anything back in return.
As I put my head down to hide my tears of happiness, I couldn't help but smile at how awesome life can be.
Starting to compose myself again, I looked over to see the man drinking the water provided by the family and I could do nothing but smile. "How cool" I thought.
All of a sudden, another man, seemingly out of nowhere came up to the man and offered him a slice of pepperoni pizza. The man graciously accepted and nodded in thanks.
"This isn't real" I thought. Why had I never seen such genuine acts of kindness like this before?
Recognizing the gift he received, the man slowly ate the pizza. At first picking off the pepperoni and eating them one by one and then diving into the pizza slice itself.
At this point, my heart was full. In 20 minutes, I had seen two acts of kindness from strangers to a man that they could have easily written off. "Life is good" I thought as I stood up to head home.
As I walked back to my car, I couldn't help but have a small grin on my face acknowledging what I had just witnessed.
What's the moral of this story? For me, it's that we each have the ability to impact someone'e life and as one of my favorite quotes states...
"Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good."
The world can be a dark place but on this day, in this moment, the world was anything but dark.
I hope you enjoyed my story.
By the way, the picture above is of the homeless man. I knew in the moment after my emotions came over me, I wanted to document this experience.
