A Different Kind

So here’s one for you, a while back I was in Bristol. I happened to be alone, waiting for a friend. We were just coming out of the winter so it was bitterly cold and blowing a gale. I had nowhere to really go so I decided to walk around town, I passed a man. Huddled up in the corner of the doorway, quite obviously freezing. Poor soul. I carried on into town. Mooched around for a bit then headed back the same way. He was still there. Still freezing. I thought, I can’t just walk past again. So I went into a Subway and bought him a hot sandwich and a cup of tea. I thought to myself, I am such a good person, this is really kind, how lovely of me!

I made my way over to said freezing man, “excuse me sir, I hope you don’t mind, I’ve bought you a sandwich and a tea” He looked up at me, “I don’t eat wheat” I’m astounded. “Um, sorry what?” “I. Don’t. Eat. Wheat.” “Oh um right, sorry. Err well there’s a tea as well..” “Got one” I see. “Oh right well um, I’ll just err, I’ll just be on my way then” No reply. No nothing.

I had to awkwardly, walk away from him with my unwanted sandwich and cup of tea feeling like a right idiot. How could I have gone from feeling elevated to feeling embarrassed? Honestly I just couldn’t believe it. I thought THAT’S IT! NO MORE! No more good deeds. I’m not going out of my way to help anyone EVER AGAIN. Then about 2 minutes later another freezing man approached me “Spare any change?” “No I can’t but you can have a bloody sandwich and a cup of tea!” Freezing man #2 couldn’t believe his luck! I swiftly forgot about my ban on good deeds there and then.

Seriously though, how good does it feel, to do something good? Helping a single mum up the stairs with her pram without her asking, calling your Nan before you go round in case she needs some shopping, sending an email to the shy one at work to check they’re alright – all these little bits of kindness can inspire the next person to do something nice – isn’t that nice?

And it doesn’t have to be anything big, a man handed me a paper this morning when he picked up his own, that was sweet and made my morning just a little bit better. Sometimes, just saying nice things can brighten someone’s day. I like that top, thank you for helping me yesterday, would you like a cup of tea since you’re busy etc. Teeny tiny things but that little kindness could pull someone out of a bad mood, make them realise that there is lightness in the world. This is a sickly sweet blog post – apologies.

But you know what I mean. It’s nice to be nice. And if we’re all 1% nicer to each other tomorrow then that’s a start isn’t it?

Also, if anyone wants to bring me a cup of tea/sandwich/sports car tomorrow morning that would be really, REALLY nice.