Be Kind in an Unkind World

On one of the many visits to my lawyer, I brought in some forms that required a lawyer’s stamp and notarization. I needed to send the forms to New York to start the administration process with my aunt’s estate. I was quite distraught and upset about the whole situation.

My lawyer was unavailable, so I visited another lawyer in the office that I had never met before. The lawyer walked in the room. He asked me what I needed. I started to explain to him about the terrible situation and as I did, I started to cry. I could tell he had some empathy for my situation. He walked out of the room and came back with the stamp to notarize my forms.

After he was finished, I asked him how much I owed him for his time and for notarizing the papers. “No charge,” he said. I looked at him bewildered as I was quite confused by what he said. “It’s a random act of kindness day,” he continued. “Don’t worry about it.”

I felt a tremendous amount of emotion and was so grateful for his generosity.

That random act stayed with me. I was grateful for the lawyer not only for recognizing how this situation was affecting me but also for deciding to pass that kindness to me. A stranger.

Every little bit of kindness does matter. It doesn’t matter how small.

Princess Diana quoted an old saying: Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. My wonderful puppets support me and I made a video with them on kindness:

And I wrote about kindness in My Courage to Tell. I believe that Godliness is what we do for others. I hope that I give hope and inspire people. I know that a lot of people are hurting and suffer in silence. That’s my “random act of kindness”. Helping others, we help ourselves.

Peace.