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Random Acts of Kindness
By Julie | December 10, 2007
Last week a gunman walked into the Omaha, Nebraska Westroads mall, opened fire, killed 8 people, then himself. Sunday a man walked into a Christian missionary dormitory, in Colorado, and killed two people. Nine hours later he killed two people in a church in Colorado Springs, before a volunteer security guard fired and killed the gunman. The first happened because a troubled teen no longer wanted to burden people (yes, I see the irony) and he wanted to be famous. The second occurred, apparently, because the gunman hated Christians. Both shootings happened in less than a week’s time, leaving 14 people (including 2 gunmen) dead. Neither incident even begins to top off the random brutality of innocent people shot, this year alone.
I’m not sure which motive is worse: killing innocent people because they were there, or targeting people who have different views then you. Both give me the heebie geebies, and make me mourn for the families left suffering.
The world now does not seem to be the same one I grew up in. It used to be if people committed suicide they did it privately, and were found later. It was, and is, so tragic. But with this fad of ‘I’m going out and I’ll take you with me to become famous, because I really am that sick’ we’ve ushered in new fears, and paranoia. When will it happen next? Where will it be? What would I do if it happened to me? It’s a new kind of fear because people used to turn guns on others for a robbery, or revenge. Now, they go after innocent people when they’ve lost a need for life, to up the numbers so they’ll get media attention with their deaths. There are no negotiations with the person who only wants death.
We live in scary times. With each new killing spree it gets harder and harder to trust people. More and more people begin to fear strangers, because you just never know for sure. I hear people say, where’s the good in this world?
So, today I was part of a chain of random acts of kindness. I was a nice reassurance that there are still good people, who show kindness to others.
We had a chiropractor appointment first thing this morning (Thank you Bob!) Our kids took a while to wake up, so we didn’t have breakfast before we left. On the way home we went through the drive-thru at Burger King. I pulled up to the window, my money in hand to give to the cashier. Then he told me, the car two ahead of me paid for the cop, who was in line behind her. The cop refused to accept this, and he paid for me. So, I paid for the car behind me. I don’t know what that car decided to do; the chain may have stopped with them, but it could’ve continued. But someone in that line got a free breakfast. (I hope it was someone who really needed the money, because every little bit really does help.)
I asked the cashier if this sort of thing happened often. He said, not a lot, but it does every now and then. In the midst of the shootings this past week, I think that’s so cool. Every now and then, the people in the drive-thru at Burger King get to witness random acts of kindness from one stranger to another. If Burger King sees this, other restaurants must. If other restaurants have people paying for a stranger’s meal, surely it happens, once in a while at gas stations, malls, discount stores, even the person who breaks the law by plugging meters (I think it’s pathetic that’s illegal!)
Kindness isn’t always someone paying for another; small, kind gestures don’t require money. A few weeks ago, before the ground was covered with snow, the college group at our church went out and randomly raked leaves in strangers’ yards. (Some people found out who did it, and have called the church many, many times to thank them.) Last week I had to go to the post office with 3 packages, a toddler, and a preschooler. Another woman was getting out of her car at the same time. She saw us and immediately came over and offered to carry a couple of the packages for me. Then we chatted all the way inside. (My youngest is getting heavier; I thought of her as an angel.)
Even in the incidents of shootings there are random acts of kindness, in the most difficult circumstances. Years ago, I stood at the gate of the Oklahoma City Federal building, reading notes, and admiring the teddy bears pinned to the fence. People vowed to remember, and honor those lost. During the Columbine shootings, teacher “Dave” Sanders saved many students, before receiving multiple bullets that took his own life. The very day of the Amish school shooting last year, the entire community banded together, and announced forgiveness for the shooter, then, a year later they gave his widow money. Last week, a man in the Omaha mall stepped in front of another woman, telling her not to get on the escalator. He was gunned down seconds later. Saturday, after Westroads mall re-opened my brother, dad, and step mom went, as so many did, to let their presence show support for the people who died there just three days earlier. My brother told me a young man was standing outside the mall’s entrance, holding a sign that read “Free Hugs.” He said, nearly every person who walked by hugged him, and many cried. It seems with each shooting, the world gets more heroes, showing a stark contrast from those who held the gun.
There is kindness at work in this world, even with the scary stories. Sometimes it’s hard to find. Other times we’re too busy and preoccupied to witness it. But, maybe the best way to see it is to be it. Maybe, when we witness it, if we all started to pay it forward, it would come around to everyone more often. And just maybe, we’d have fewer people holding guns at all. That is my hope.
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