It’s Time for Revolution
But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.
Rick Riordan, The Battle of the Labyrinth
We recently ordered a bathroom vanity and counter.
The delivery would be by truck with “lift-gate service.”
That is code for “the driver will put it on the edge of your driveway; from there, you’re on your own.”
The driver arrived on a sweltering and humid day.
It happened to be the day I was participating in a community-wide garage sale.
He asked where I wanted him to put the pallet.
“Well, that was generous of him to put it where it would be easiest for me to get it into the house,” I thought.
I showed him a spot just in front of our porch.
He pulled the pallet onto the lift-gate with a pallet jack and then lowered it.
Meanwhile, I had quickly gone into the house to get the money I had ready to tip him.
We put the pallet in place, and he began filling out the paperwork.
I offered him a bottle of water from the cooler I had prepared for my customers.
He said that would be nice.
“How about two bottles?”
“Sure.”
“Hey, I have some frozen bottles in there. How about a frozen one and a regular one?”
“That would be fabulous.”
His reaction was more grateful than I expected.
My mind-reading skills are limited. But I suspect what touched him was my awareness of the day that lay ahead of him.
Not only could he drink cold water now, but later he could enjoy another cold drink after the water in the frozen bottle melted.
At this point, I’m debating whether to give a tip as well.
I decided that a tip would just be transactional and take away from the reaction he had to my simple gesture.
We finished the paperwork, and he got back into the truck.
As he headed for the end of the cul-de-sac to turn around, he smiled and said, “Thanks a lot.”
On the way back, he thanked me again with an even bigger smile.
His reaction caught me off-guard.
I never thought that such a small act of kindness could mean so much.
About an hour later, the mail carrier arrived, and I decided to seek another rush of dopamine.
She took the bottle with another big smile and a “thank you.”
Today, you will have several opportunities to extend kindness to the people you encounter.
There is nothing more subversive than kindness.
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