Small Acts

[lurch]

:Mod Edit and Merge:

Small Acts of all kinds. I personally prefer ones of Love or Peaceful Being, but there's also Courage, Cowardice, Kindness, Indifference and Spite.

What have you done today?

~Balon

:End Mod Edit:




Howabout a thread of: Accounts of Small Acts of Kindness. ?

The acts can be of yours and they can be acts that were expressed on you. They can be singular acts not returned and acts returned fulfilling the gestalt.
Acts within the family may not be seen as Small,,by mother or father or wife and husband but are not outside any parameter of this thread. If it feels like a small act of kindness, then post about it here,, if so willing. The demonstration of such acts across the KW population may give hope against the despair, and be a historical record of what is possible for those in doubt.
Self aggrandizement is not the aim or goal of this thread but Human aggrandizement may be closer to its aim.

For defining,, I see " small acts of kindness" as one or a few steps above being courteous. Holding a door open for a human being is being courteous. Holding down the button on a water fountain for a thirsty person on crutches. is closer to the small act I'm thinking of.

An example from todays visit to the dentist follows. On the way to the dentist i was thinking about their nature. I mean..what kind of person choses dentistry as a career choice. ?..Their business is other peoples mouths. They know that they inflict pain. Somewhere along the line I recall Dentists having a high rate of suicide. My frame of mind was thus set as i entered the dentists office. A small reminder from the receptionist about being a tad late was registered. I thought to myself, " arriving early for a dentist appointment would be a sign of insanity." But i kept a zip on it.

My regular " dental hygienecist ( spl)" had been replaced by an younger , more smiley, teeth cleaner for the day. I asked for " local" applied to gums and teeth since i did not want to experience any,, what so ever, pain. We chit chatted for a bit and then she got down to business...As she neared completion of the picking, gouging, scraping and polishing of my teeth,, she drew back( ..and she was close. if ya know what I mean....like she was the first teeth cleaner to actually cuddled my head in one arm while she played with instruments in my mouth instructing me to turn towards her. I had a vision of di'angelos Pieta, thus the following) and she asked..how ya doing? I passed my tongue over the smooth clean teeth and said to her.." Have you considered taking up sculpting? You could do wonders with a block of marble!" She was totally unprepared for the comment. It took a few seconds for her to recover from the giggles, blush and other unexpectedness. She finished up on a bubbly note and soon she was at my side at the receptionist desk,,setting up for my next appointment. She grasped my upper arm with hand and squeezed as she said.." Its been really nice to meet you, see you soon!"
My small act of kindness was returned.

[Zarathustra]

So is this flirting, or kindness we're talking about?

That's really tough, making witty, flirty remarks while cradled in the arms of a young, smiley woman. Your kindness knows no bounds!

[Cameraman Jenn]

I helped an old lady up the bus steps Monday evening.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

So is this flirting, or kindness we're talking about?

That's really tough, making witty, flirty remarks while cradled in the arms of a young, smiley woman. Your kindness knows no bounds!

If you have any doubt about the level of this fine chap's strange brand of positive cynicism, just take a good look at his avatar.

Over the weekend I was able to help an elderly gentleman who was clearly having difficulty operating credit-card-only gas pump at the filling station.

dw

[Fist and Faith]

My small act of kindness is to inform lurch that you have attracted a young, smiley teeth cleaner, and you should go back for another cleaning at the first possible moment.

[Wyldewode]

A local grocery store requires you to deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart (this ensures that people return carts to the correct place in order to retreive their quarter). As I entered the store after getting my cart, I heard a gentleman and his teenage son say something about having to purchase an item to get change for the cart before returning to buy the rest of their groceries. I approached the man an asked if I could give him a quarter. He accepted, and thanked me. I went about my shopping.

[Menolly]

At the coffee shop where I am currently getting my internet access in the mornings, Firefox does not have Flash plugged in. A young boy, about 10 years old, went and got the owner to help him, because he was unable to watch the video on gatorzone.com. The owner told him he would have to get his "computer guy" to install Flash on to Firefox the next time he was in. I leaned over and suggested he use IE instead, as I was pretty sure Flash was preinstalled.

The owner closed Firefox and called up gatorzone.com on IE. I returned to browsing listening to a happy sports fan watching the Gators.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I gave a customer a hefty discount today because I know she's a high school teacher and a very good one and doesn't make alot of money. How do I know she's a good teacher? I've seen some of her student films. She teaches English and one of her creative writing projects she assigns is a short screenplay. Then the kids divvy into groups and decide amongst themselves which one to use and then they film it using themselves as the various elements of the process ie. actors, cameramen, lighting and sound. Then she helps them edit the films and show them in class. Then she posts them on a website so they can show their friends and family. I think that's a GREAT way to inspire kids to learn.

Eunice does her good deed alot. She inspires young minds to learn and grow and try new things and hone skills. She goes to her job with enthusiasm and smiles and patience aplenty. I have a lot of admiration for her for that.

[Cagliostro]

I told a small kid yesterday to never fall in love, and that there is no such thing as romance. He will thank me later if he follows this advice.

[Zarathustra]

I let a homeless guy off with warning when he hassled me while I was eating out at my favorite restaurant.

Ok, maybe part of me just didn't want to interrupt my meal by kicking his ass. But I did kind of feel sorry for the loser. A little. And luckily for him, the management hauled him out with a lecture about how it was illegal to harass his customers.

Or maybe the management still remembers another time when I was in their establishment, when I kindly informed them that if they didn't want a fight in their restaurant, they'd tell this jerk (another customer, not a homeless guy) to sit his ass down and stop threatening me in front of my family. He was embarrassed that I called his screeching children "unbearable" and requested another table; so he felt like he needed to redeem himself by testing his courage against my patience. He got off with a warning, too. But it came very close to blows.

Maybe being kind works after all, because they gave us a better table and gave me a free beer. Woo hoo! Kindness rocks.

[Cagliostro]

I knew you were a mob boss!

[Blackhawk]

I heard a couple kids Harrassing a Handicapped Kid(he had Downs syndrome) that I knew from around the neighborhood, and they pushed him into the iceplant and started kicking him....I jumped the fence and kicked both of their asses and they never Harassed the kid again, it was a good feeling..just one of those things that doesnt happen that often but when it does you are glad to be there to stop it.

then this one time at school some Giant Jock knocked one of my smaller friends down and was going to do some dammage for getting in his way- until i came over and said "why dont you try that with me asshole!!!" and of course me being his size, he decided it would be better to lose face than to lose teeth.

it seems some of my acts of kindness involved some acts of unkindness.

I love catching assholes that fuck with the less fortunate. scuse my language

Plus i have given my share of money to the homeless Veterans ive met on the streets, and all my animals have been adopted from homeless or abandoned situations.

thats all i can pull off the top of my head for now.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Some guy just flattered me by trying to get my digits at a stoplight. I think he might have been after the car more than me though. I was driving a customer's seafoam green gorgeous mini cooper.

[High Lord Tolkien]

it seems some of my acts of kindness involved some acts of unkindness.

"Peace through Strength"

[Avatar]

In order to save the world,
we must perform acts of random kindness,
and senseless beauty.

--A

[[Syl]]

My random acts of kindness usually happen at the grocery store (usually just letting people go ahead in line or helping old ladies with their carts or groceries) or with the homeless.

When I was in Monterrey, where there's always homeless hanging around, I went to the Juice Club fairly often. After I picked up my vanilla date smoothie I started to walk to the Del Monte mall, I believe. A guy asked me for a dollar (..."I asked him what it's for. He said, "I have seen them." I said, "OK, it's yours"). I told him I just spent the last cash I had (I was an E-1 at the time) on the smoothie, and he asked if he could have a drink. I admit, I quailed internally for a second. Scraggly beard, long, unkempt hair, dirty clothes. But then I remembered my complete disdain for germs and relented. OK, so maybe I tossed the straw a block later, but still...

For my birthday last year I stopped at Food Lion to buy some lemons (they didn't sell them at the liquor store). A woman in front of me was having difficulty with her purchase and couldn't decide what to put back. I told the cashier to put her chips on my check-out. The woman picked up her bag of Doritos and didn't look back. I've had the same experience a few times with kids and candy bars. They're usually more polite.

I was visiting my friend Dan in DC. I forgot to bring clean socks. Dan said the CVS across from his apartment probably had some. While he and his girlfriend (now wife) were out getting passport photos I went there. Again, a lot of homeless. A woman asked me for some change. Again, I didn't have any. But I told her I would after I got some socks. Well, they didn't have any socks, but I got a pepsi. Went to give her a couple dollars and some guy asked me what I was doing. I said I was giving her some money since I said I would after I got socks. Guy asked me how come I didn't have socks. I told him that CVS didn't have any. So guy tells me he knows a great place to get socks. So we walk about four blocks. Sure enough, good cheap socks from this chinese store. I give him a couple pair, ask him if he knows a good place to eat. There was a good wing place across the street. We split an order, I gave him a few bucks, and then I headed back to Dan's.

Whenever we take my son to Chuck E. Cheese, I give our leftover tickets to some random kid (usually a lot, since there's only so much junk you can buy for under 1k tickets, and I kick ass at the pinball game that spits out the big tickets). Whenever I'm playing the occasional game of pinball or some other stand-up (a bit more rare these days) and see a kid looking for lost quarters in the coin return I give him a few of mine ('cause that was me when I was young).

I always return half of whatever I win from the host when I play poker at someone's place.

Yes, I'd love one of your fliers. Thanks. Sign your petition? No problem.

Does buying popcorn from the boy scouts or cookies from the girl scouts count?

[stonemaybe]

I'm trying to stir up a 90yo+ protest march against our local doctor's surgery that has just stopped taking prescription requests by telephone. Problem is, the people affected are those that can't get out of their house to order their prescriptions in person because they're housebound, so they can't march very well.

Ungrateful b***ards. But maybe I can find some sort of alternative solution, cos these OAPs are seriously pissed off. They won wars and stuff! We will overcome!

[Cagliostro]

Some guy just flattered me by trying to get my digits at a stoplight. I think he might have been after the car more than me though. I was driving a customer's seafoam green gorgeous mini cooper.

That's funny. Some lady driving crappily around me was asking for my digits the other day. I gave her my middle one.

[lurch]

...the middle one huh? I guess thats better than none,,,
Anyway,, as unbelievable as it may sound,,the mainframe at work yesterday was having serious issues with it self so..after 4 hours of no computers,,the boss actually allowed folks to go home...or leave early... or whatever..The " smallness" is in the caveat...make up the time next week.

[aliantha]

Wow, lurch. I keep saying that whenever Outlook goes down at work, they should give us admin PTO and send us all home. I figure that'll happen about once, maybe twice, and then we'll never have another Outlook outage EVER.

A couple of days ago, a woman ahead of Magickmaker in line at the store needed a penny -- she had a nickel but the cashier didn't have any pennies in her drawer. So Magickmaker gave the woman a penny -- and she insisted on giving my kid the nickel.

I've had store clerks express undying gratitude to me when they've had delays in ringing up my purchases (register out of tape, computer refusing to ring up the price correctly, trainee on the register, whatever) and I *haven't* gotten crabby.