“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
-Charles Mingus
It’s a lesson we’ve all heard from those surrounding us: happiness is an art mastered through the enjoyment of the simple things in life. While things such as monotonous workplace tasks and financial woes may occasionally sour our attitudes, maintaining a fundamental optimism in the nature of life is one of the simplest – yet beneficial – ways to perpetuate toward an overall improved state of well being.
Lately, my optimism has been found in the good deeds of others. Sometimes the most minimal act of kindness is the most impressionable moment of the day.
Whether such an act benefits you directly or you merely witnessed one between other individuals, discovering the readiness of others to selflessly radiate any degree of kindheartedness is feeling of unexplainable instant gratification.
So today, I dedicate a few moments for just some of what I am sure is many random acts of kindness that have grown into reminders of life’s simpler pleasures found at the root of compassion and altruism.
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In high school, I was provided the opportunity to work as a poll worker for a special election following the death of our congressional representative. Quickly recognizing the chance to get myself involved with the democratic electoral process (and get paid to be excused from classes for a day), I immediately offered to work. Assuming my day would be spent assisting less technological suave voters master the electronic voting machines, my expectations of the day did not exceed the basic self-satisfaction of helping aid our country’s political process.
While waiting for an available machine, an older gentleman began making small chat with me. Always up for friendly conversation, I happily obliged and began answering his inquiries as to why I decided to work that day for the Board of Elections (apparently this is somewhat rare of a seventeen year old to do). As the conversation progressed, we somehow realized we had a common interest in barbershop music (and I am aware that, again, this is somewhat rare of a seventeen year old). Around this point in the conversation, it was his turn to vote.
I continued my responsibilities, assuming that the man would quietly slip out after he finished voting. However, he approached me afterwards and handed me two tickets to an upcoming concert that featured his barbershop chorus. Of course I profusely thanked him, all the while being caught off guard by his generous gift.
I attended the concert with my choir teaching later that week. While I never spoke to that man again, I still vividly remember the benevolence he showed during the one conversation we shared.
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Earlier this past spring, I was suffering from a typical spell of final examination woes that comes routinely each semester. Feeling overwhelmed with projects, readings, tests, and a lack of meal plan money to provide lunch for the week, I was constantly on the verge of a mental breakdown. I eventually conceded to my need to purchase lunch and accepted the fact that I would have to use my debit card to purchase lunch (everything seems much more dramatic during finals, even spending five dollars for lunch). While waiting in line at the cafeteria, I noticed that my supervisors were standing in line in front of me. We began through the typical script of “How are you” based questions. When one of my supervisors stepped up and offered to pay for all of their meals, I jokingly added, “So you’ve got mine, too, right?” Expecting him to fully joke back, I began mentally preparing my next comedic line.
But to my amazement, he simply said, “Of course.”
I politely added that I was only kidding and that he did not need to feel obligated to buy me lunch. He insisted, though. I of course broke into a mini monologue emphasizing how he, in that moment, exponentially improved the course of my day. He kindly laughed, and I am not sure that he realized how serious I really was.
I spent the rest of my in a calmer state of mind with the reassurance that a happy life was more permanent than a week of final exam stress.
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During one of my recent trips home, I went to Bob Evans with a few friends to catch up on each other’s lives. While seated at our table, I noticed that the little girl seated at the table across from us kept looking over at me and smiling. Feeling compelled to kindly acknowledging this girl, I complimented the fun curly straw that she was drinking out of. Something along the lines of, “That’s a really nice straw! I wish my straw was as fun as yours.” She giggled and continued to eat relatively quietly with her family. I, too, continued my meal without cause.
While the little girl’s family was packing up to leave the restaurant, she approached me at my table and handed me a curly straw different from the one that she had been drinking from. Her mom told me that she asked the waitress for an extra straw so that she could give it to me. I instantly thanked her and could not stop smiling for the rest of the meal.
It may seem silly, but the simplicity of a young child’s kindness is perhaps the purest form of generosity. It isn’t embedded in greed or profit, but rather what seems like a genuine fondness of others.
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It isn’t always easy to recognize acts of kindness, especially when you are not the recipient of the act. However, with a careful eye, it is possible to observe an exchange of kindness between others. Oftentimes, this is just as enjoyable as being directly involved. I’ll share one of my personal favorites.
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I have always considered both of my parents to be extremely selfless and generous people. Those are often characteristics of the best kinds of parents. My mother, in particular, has taught me that kind deeds need not be heavily praised and recognized to have a significant impact.
An avid gardener, my mother has throughout the years transformed our yard into a pristine canvass full of a spectrum of colorful buds. A transformation that required hard work and determined devotion, my mother’s delicate flowerbeds received similar maternal protection that her own children had growing up. In other words, my mother would not and still does not tolerate the mistreatment of her gardens.
One day several years ago, my mother recreated an exchange between herself and a young girl walking to my local elementary school. While out in the yard one morning, my mother noticed that little girl rummaging in one of her flowerbeds. When my mother asked what the girl was doing, she explained that she wanted to bring the pretty flowers to school as a gift to her teacher.
Outcomes are often determined in an instant moment, and in that moment, my mother stopped her busy morning routine to teach the young girl how to properly pick flowers. My mother wanted to make sure that the flowers were safely extracted so that they could be healthily delivered to that young girl’s favorite teacher.
Obviously, the girl’s inclination toward providing her teacher with fresh flowers is heartwarming in and of itself. However, it was my mother’s response that demonstrates the variety of kindness that is easily overlooked. Rather than get upset at the little girl for what can be misconstrued as destruction, my mother nurtured the girl’s good intentions without expecting anything in return.
It’s the act of kindness that allows other acts of kindness to come to fruition.
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Acts of kindness often have a domino effect. They encourage others to spread the joy that they themselves have received from another. Through this chain, the courses of people’s lives can dramatically change for the better, no matter how small the act. A basic appreciation of these moments provides humanity with mild dose of humility and comradery.
