You Never Know

My son recently started a new job with Starbucks Coffee and he came home and told us a story that still gives me pause. One morning a man came in to get a cup of coffee. The man really looked down and had a scowl on his face. When he came to the counter he ordered his coffee. The barista who took his order recognized the painful and troubled expression on his face and said with a smile, “You look like you could use a free cup of coffee.  Please accept it as a gift from me.”

The man took the coffee without saying a word and walked out of the store. About two hours later he returned and said to the barista, “I just got of prison and if it were not for your kindness I was going to hurt someone today.”  Wow! You never know...

You never know what someone is going through and the affect of your actions on the person. Do you smile or grimace at people you meet? Do you open the door for someone or let it slam in their face?

Some of you may have heard about the story of the student walking to school who dropped his books and as he was picking them up, another student bent down and helped him, while other students just walked by.

Years later, at the student's graduation in which he was valedictorian, he recounted the story and to everyone's surprise he said that on that day he had been on his way home to commit suicide. Because of the actions of the student who helped pick up his books he had changed his mind.

You never know...

Just like the perceptive and kind barista, we need to be aware of what is going on around us and to be sensitive to the lives of others.  Simple acts of kindness can have a big impact on someone's life and potentially change the course of history.

You never know...

What a Wonderful World This Would Be…

While sitting at Peets Coffee in Pleasant Hill, CA with my daughter, we engaged in a wonderful conversation with a woman.  She said she remembered my daughter because of her smile and her laughter.  While speaking with her she asked the question:  What if everyone smiled at someone they did not know?  And what if every day we focused on doing something nice for someone else?  We then started to discuss some of the ways we could make a difference in someone’s life in very simple ways:

Pay it forward – if someone does something nice for you, do something nice for someone else.

Open the door for someone – How many times have you held a door open for someone you didn’t know?

Buy someone a cup of coffee – While in line to buy a cup of coffee, someone bought my coffee for me.  It made my day!

Pay the toll for someone behind you – The woman we were speaking with said someone did it for her and the next day she did it for the car behind her.

Say hello to someone with authentic sentiment – A genuine heartfelt hello can be more than courteous, it can signal to the receiver that all is right with the world, if only for a few seconds.

Smile at the people you encounter no matter their response – There is a connection that happens between human beings that is hard to verbalize when someone smiles at another.  It can be a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

Let someone behind you in line go ahead of you – If you are in a grocery or bank line, try letting someone ahead of you.  They may fall over from shock.

Call a friend that you have not spoken to for awhile to say an encouraging word.

Say thank you -   Be gracious when someone does something kind, say thank you.

Give a Hug - Hug every member of your household before you leave or before they leave the house and tell them you love them.  Make it a habit!   

With all of the negative news and lack of civility in our world today, if each one of us extended some small courtesy, what a wonderful world this would be.