A few months ago I decided to walk down to the office. Our office is just about 5 blocks away from my apartment but you have to climb a very long staircase before getting there. So I did a little jugging, pass through some shortcuts and arrived at the building. But on getting to the third floor, I met a stranded old woman, so I decided to help her carry her bags down the crowded stairwell. The old woman was staring at me throughout our little walk as I struggled to crawl off the stairs with her bags. She has been there for more than an hour waiting for someone to help her carry some of her loads. The stairwell was busy as usual and nobody was willing to assist her. To them, their business was more important and time “is” also a very good excuse. So when I saw her struggling and stumbling I decided to move closer for a chat.
“Got a little time,” she said as I inch closer to her. I nodded, “would you help me with my bags?” I nodded. “I will pay you $100” I shook my head, pick up her bag and started struggling down the crowded stairs.
It was a very long staircase, but I was willing to crawl and struggle with her 4 bags to allow her the freedom of walking without any load and to prevent any theft when and if we get to the road safely.
With the bags on my heads and the crawling and pushing I was passing through, I understood why people didn’t bother to assist her but the idea of if she was my mother clouded my thoughts, I cried, pretended and push myself till I got to the road.
“There are obviously, so many bad people in this World, but you are surely not one of them,” she said. She kissed my forehead, hugged and struggled to give me some money, I resisted, thank her and asked her if there was anything else she needed me to do. Then suddenly, a Television crew arrived the scene, they were doing a documentary on kindness and I was the only one out of the 100 people she approached that decided to take the risk to help her.
Each time I remember that day, the cruelness of life stares at my face, we are always so busy that we forget the little thing that matters in life. Sometimes a little hello, a thank you note, a word of hope, a ‘you matter’ card can change someone’s entire day.
One of the most important decisions in life is the decision to be kind. You have to be kind to yourself, your health and anyone that comes your way. If at least 30% of the World is kind, the World will change for good.