I keep hearing about random acts of kindness from people. Some people say that there is no such thing and other people say that there is. For a long time I would have told you that I was on the side of there is no such thing, but last week I had one of those days of revelation. Now I would say both arguments are correct. After I tell you what happened to make me come to this conclusion I will explain why I say both arguments are correct.
The first thing that happened was a simple thing. As with every day after work I was standing outside waiting for the bus. A man and his dog started walking toward the bus stop I was at and the dog stopped to smell my bag. Probably smelled the empty container I had carried my lunch in or who knows what. Well the guy told me the dog was friendly and doesn't bite so I reached to pet the dog. The guy told me thank you and I smiled at him. The dog wasn't letting me pet her and he told me her name was Copper. I tried to call her by her name, but it was obvious she wasn't interested in letting me pet her. They walked on. A little while later they came walking back. The man said "It's us again". I chuckled and smiled. I tried to pet Copper again and this time she let me pet her. I talked to the guy for a little bit and he said "Thank you" again and smiled. After they left and he seemed a little happier I realized why he kept saying thank you. He looked like he was probably a homeless man and probably was use to people looking past him or in discuss at him. Most people probably didn't stop to talk to him, smile at him, or pet his dog Copper. Which means just by noticing him as a person and not treating him differently I showed him kindness. It wasn't my plan or thought to do a kind act. I did what I did, because he was a human with a dog who wasn't out to harm anyone. Clothing or dirt doesn't change that fact.
After that I continued to wait for the bus. When the bus finally showed up the driver didn't pull up to the curb. Instead she motioned me to walk to the bus to get on. So I walked out to the bus that was waiting in the pack of vehicles to move. Once I got on the bus the bus driver thanked me and explained she didn't want to loose her spot with how the traffic was at the time. I told her I understood and didn't blame her. Then one of the guys piped up and said "This lady deserves a standing ovation for not making us have to wait. She probably saved us 15 minutes of waiting to get through the traffic." Again one simple act not meaning to do anything that was kind for anyone yet an act of kindness happened.
So back to what I was saying at the beginning about how both arguments about "Random Acts of Kindess" are right. You see the first group of people that say random acts of kindness are correct due to they say if you plan an act or think about an act in order to do something kind isn't a random act. That is true. If you plan or think about doing an act in order to do a kind act it no longer is a random act of kindness due to it isn't random. Yet the other argument is true as well due to the fact that random acts of kindness do happen just not by us thinking about them or planning them. Random acts of kindness happen when we do the right thing without thinking about it. This happens when we make a practice of doing the right thing. So in the end a person has to make kindness a habit not a thought or a planned action in order for it to become a random act. That doesn't mean we shouldn't plan or think about doing kind acts. It means we should start doing them so much that we just do the kind acts without thinking about them any more. Automatically without thinking about it give a seat to a person who needs it more. When seeing a person struggling automatically without thought help them. If more people start doing that than the world as a whole will become a better place.
Random acts of kindness are only random when done without thought. Otherwise they are just acts of kindness.
