Kindness

Look at the world around you, when was the last time kindness was bestowed upon you? When was the last time you did a kind act for someone?

I'm hoping my cousin doesn't mind me posting this, but here is her Facebook status from yesterday "Everyday I ride my scooter, I scare and make the little boy next door cry when I get home and slam the seat shut. After getting his mom's number from the landlord, yesterday I texted the mom and told them to meet me outside when I got home. I apologized to him, and showed him the noise and he said he wasn't scared anymore. Coming home today, and not making a little boy cry = priceless."

The response she received from her friends and family indicates just how uncommon it is for someone to show an act of kindness. As a parent of a special needs child who typically receives negative feedback from people when my child cries, I was taken aback by her status. My eyes welled up with tears as I thought about how happy and relieved that little boy's mom must be to not have to dread and be anxious over the neighbor coming home.

Such a small act made such a big difference in that family's life. My cousin doesn't see what the big deal was, she thought nothing of spending a few minutes helping the boy see what noise was scaring him. There needs to be more kindness and compassion like my cousin exhibited.

Reading stories like that warm my heart and give me hope for Mr N's future. I love knowing that there are genuinely nice people out there that extend effort to help others out of the kindness of their heart. There are people that you encounter that are in customer service positions that require direct contact with the public; bank tellers, cashiers at the market, receptionist at the pediatricians office, etc who tend to be rude and even make comments about your child's behavior when they should be the ones who are kind and considerate.

As you've probably guessed by now, I don't really have a point and I'm not really headed anywhere with this post. I really just was happy to see such a kind act shown to a stranger. I could have probably just made this a one sentence long post.

PS. Not having therapy today was a great choice. We have relaxed, watered the garden, played outside, went to visit the neighbor's horse, and watched a movie.