A few weekends ago, some of my teammates and I completed a COLT (Chapter Officer Leadership Training) Conference for the Milton FFA Chapter. We paired up and presented workshops on things like team dynamics, retention and recruitment, and how to take a project in your chapter and make it yours. Two of my teammates, Jamie and Molly, chose to do their workshop on community service. Prior to our day in Milton, I only knew the topics that my teammates chose, but not what they were doing in the workshop itself.
Jamie and Molly talked about a number of things in their workshop, but the one thing I took away from their workshop as I sat in the back of the room and listened was how you can do community service each and every day. They talked about how a simple smile or random act of kindness can truly make a person's day. I could not believe how incredibly true their words were and I just hoped that the members of the two teams we worked with that day took them to heart as much as I did. What do those things, a simple smile or random act of kindness, cost us? Absolutely nothing. That is why they are so important, and I firmly believe that if everyone tried to do a simple random act of kindess each and every day, this world would be a much better place.
These random acts of kindness could be as simple as holding the door for the person behind you. Who knows, they could be a germ-a-phob (like me) and really appreciate the fact that they did not have to touch the door handle that thousands of other people have touched. It could be letting a person in while driving who could have been having a bad day. We will never know it, but letting them in during rush hour traffic may have been the only thing to bring a smile to their face that day. It could be paying for the person's meal behind you in the drive thru at Burger King or McDonald's. Maybe they really are scrambling for money during these tough economic times, and the $7.38 they get to keep could mean the world to them. It could be helping someone carry their groceries to their vehicle. Maybe they are elderly and it takes a large amount of energy for them to do that. While carrying their groceries, you instill a a positive image of the youth in their brain and later share the experience with family and friends because it had that much of an impact on their day.
The night before the workshop, my partner in crime, Nick, and I went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute supplies. We were only buying a few pieces of tag board to make flip charts. The lady in front of us in the check-out had a cart full of purchases, and she smiled at us and told us to go first because she would be a while. Her kindness brought a huge smile to my face. Her random act of kindness cost her nothing. When she did this, it made me realize that it had been months since someone had done a random act of kindness like that for me. It stood out a lot to me, and had me leaving Wal-Mart with a smile on my face. It gave me a hope that there still are those generous people out in the world.
When I was younger, my family and I were on a trip together. We were in McDonald's and the place was packed. We just got done filling up our cups and were about to find a place to sit. There was a man behind us who had his tray in his hand and a few little kids to keep track of. My dad noticed that he was struggling, so he grabbed his cups and said, "Here let me help you, what kind of pop would you like?" The man was so grateful; he smiled at my dad and said, "Thank you so much, the world would be such a better place if there were more people like you here." My dad handed me the cups as he filled them and I put caps on them before placing them back on the man's tray. I even reached and grabbed straws for him. I will never forget the smile on his face or the way he looked me right in the eyes, and he said to me, "The world needs more people just like you, too." I was only in third grade, but this experience has stuck with me forever because of the way the man had smiled at me. Since then, I have always been a person who has fully believed that serving others is so rewarding. Very few people do it. But the ones that do truly do make this world a much better place to live in.
Think of the time that someone did that simple random act of kindness for you. They did not have to do it, but they did. Think of how you felt. Maybe it gave you a renewed faith in humanity. Maybe it made a bad day great. Maybe it simply gave you the urge to take this act and "pay it forward" to someone else in the future. Are you the person who serves others? Are you a person who is making this world a better place with these acts? How can you add a random act of kindness to your day everyday? How can you encourage others to do the same?
