Kindness: A Good Turn

The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. ~Charles Kuralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt

Granted, the CTA bus system of Chicago can hardly be considered the back roads, but nothing cheers me more than witnessing random acts of kindness during the thirty or so minutes I spend on it to and from work. One person giving up their seat for an elderly woman really does help to right general society wrongs.

I especially enjoy the kindness in the morning, as it’s the first interaction I’m having with society for the day. I love when my bus driver says hello or “watch your step” when the weather creates a daunting situation for taking a giant step off the bus.

I am constantly monitoring how often people running to catch the bus are let on. I understand, of course, that the bus driver has a schedule to keep, but I can’t help smiling when they stop after seeing someone waving frantically and running down the street in the hopes of making the bus.

Just yesterday our bus driver stopped after leaving the bus stop, even though the light was green. He let not one, but two folks on, one who was racing across the street from the North, and the other who realized she might still have a chance and came hustling from the West. You should have seen the joy on their faces when they stepped onto the bus.

The older I get the more I am convinced that it is our regular daily behaviors that define who we are, not our larger, life long pursuits and accomplishments. We experience literally millions of interactions with others; each one is an opportunity for us to demonstrate the people we really are.

That’s a sobering thought, that our true nature is based mostly on actions that we don’t even think about. Then again, it’s hard not to see how even a small act of goodness would multiply out over so many opportunities to repeat it.

For me, nothing speaks more to one’s character than kindness. And no one attribute covers so much. Synonyms for kindness include humanity, generosity, charity, sympathy, compassion and tenderness.

All those warm and fuzzies from the simple act of handing someone’s dropped CTA pass to them on the bus. Maybe there's hope for us, after all.