By AJ Cross
Today I was wondering what a day would be like if there was something that happened that was unexpected; something that moved me in such a way as to almost bring a tear to my eye. Every day I wake up hoping that some random act of kindness will occur in my presence or that I will be witness to a change in someone that is a change for the better. That continues to be something I look for.
Why are so many people content on waking up and pretending to be someone they are not or worse acting a certain way simply to “fit in” or be accepted when that way is truly against everything they really are? Why are so many people motivated by things that really do not matter or impressed by things that are insignificant? I have watched people spend every dollar they have to be able to say they drive a certain car or wear a certain designer piece of clothing. I have seen people abandon friendships for success, or rather what they perceive to be success. I have seen people walk away from someone they love because to stay with that person was inconvenient to the plans they set forth for their lives.
There are so few things that surprise me anymore and it saddens me. I remember once a very long time ago sitting in a diner with a group of people I barely knew that, for the sake of satisfying my own insecurities, I called friends. As we all ordered our food and began to engage in conversation a homeless man walked into the diner. He admittedly was not clean and though we were not close enough to smell him, those that were made it very clear that his odor was unpleasant. He walked to the counter and asked someone who appeared to be the owner if he could “buy” a cup of coffee.
Many people in the group I was sitting found this to be an opportune moment to make themselves feel powerful by making fun of someone weak. They began to make horrible comments and it almost reached the point of berating him. I was weaker then and just happy to be in the company of people that I thought were the upper echelon of my social pool. I sat and though I felt badly, I did not act. Though I did not join in and make fun of the homeless man, my silence was equally offensive and wrong.
Then at the heat of it all, the most unexpected thing happened. The one person whom was certainly the center
of the group and most popular and definitely most attractive among us, slammed his fist on the table so hard that several of the drinks fell over. He turned back to the homeless man at the counter who was being refused service by the owner and stood up. He walked over and stood right next to the homeless man, looked directly at the owner and said “I have nine people with me and we just ordered a lot of food. If he doesn’t get his coffee, then we are walking out. Do you really want to lose a $70 check over a ninety-cent cup of coffee?” The owner actually poured the coffee himself and gave it to the older homeless man.
The look on the man’s face pushed me to tear up. He was so moved by this random act of kindness and so was I. I don’t know what came over my friend that night, but shortly after things changed and slowly the group I had gone out with for so long began to dissipate and only three of us remained true friends. I try to have moments like that because they make me feel good. They make me feel human.
Do not stand by and exist off the pain and fear of others. Do not allow others to do that either. Being typical is so easy and so cowardly. There is great strength is doing the right thing when it seems no one else will and greater strength in being the person that no one expects; in doing the unexpected. Who knows? One day you might be in a moment and exhibit some rare quality that moves a friend or even a stranger to tear up because when they least expected it, you were selfless, humble, kind, generous or simply human. Go and do or say something that is wonderfully unexpected, if even only to yourself.
