I'm not a big fan of people acting like four year olds to get want they want, unless, of course, they are four years old and even then, it can be unpleasant. That's exactly how this person was acting, like a four year old. I couldn't just leave to avoid this person, even though I wanted to, I had to be there. So I stuck it out and tried to take the high road.
Then, just as I was about to "check out" mentally to protect my sanity, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see a sweet, welcoming face. She told me "you dropped this" and then handed me a ten dollar bill that had fallen out of my pocket. After thanking her, I turned back to what I was doing and all the problems of the day melted away.
It was not the amount of money that changed my mood, it was the act of kindness that changed my outlook. The reaffirmation of the potential for the goodness of humanity. She could have just pocketed the money, I would never have known, but she did the right thing, the thing we all should do.
I was going to do what I normally do with found/recovered money, give it to charity. Since I never would have noticed its absence, there is no reason to hold on to it. I believe an act of kindness should result in another act of kindness. Today, as was I was about to send the money to one of my local charities, an idea came to me. Perhaps there is potential to extend this act of kindness even further.
I walked into my local Target and decided to pick up the first random packs of cards I saw, up to the ten dollars of recovered money. Here's what I got ;
1 pack of 2010 Panini Threads Football Cards
1 pack of 2010 Panini Rookies & Stars Football Cards
1 pack of 2010 Panini Epix Football Cards
OK. So you're saying "how can taking money that was intended for charity to buy packs of cards be doing something for the greater good?" Well... here's where you come in. I'm taking these cards and making them the prize in a contest I call "Random Packs of Kindness." There is only one way to enter. You have to do something kind for someone else.
That's right. No signing up for a newsletter, no joining a mailing list. Just going out into the world and making it a better place. Visit an old folks home, do extra chores to help out your folks, babysit for free for a couple that needs a night out but can't afford it, volunteer at a food bank, sell some of your extra trading cards and donate the money to a charity, ANY ACT OF KINDNESS WILL DO. Then share what you did with us. After the deadline has past, we'll take all the participants and random off the prize to one of them. But in this situation, its safe to say, everyone will win even if you don't wind up winning the cards.
So here are the rules for this contest;
1 - This is only open to people who are a public, visible follower of this blog, a person who "likes" us on Facebook, a follower of allaboutcards on Twitter or a subscriber to our YouTube channel. This is the only way I can confirm that people aren't trying to double dip with multiple email addresses.
2 - Go out into the world and do something kind for someone else.
3 - By using the comments here on the blog, or writing on our Facebook page, or by tweeting us @allaboutcards or by leaving a comment on our YouTube channel page, TELL US WHAT YOU DID.
4 - At 11:59 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, anyone who has completed the three steps above will be entered onto a list. We will use Random.org to pick a winner from that list.
5 - We will announce the winner sometime around Friday, November 12, 2010 and upload a video of the pack breaks.
6 - We will then ship the prize out to the winner
It will be interesting to see how far we can take this. Good luck to all and let's make this world a better place.
Today was the day that I did the good deed you wrote about in this post. Funny part is that I had completely forgotten about the contest until I found a note reminding me of it when I got home tonight. I, along with 3 of my co-workers, was working in a building on Queens Blvd along a very busy part of said roadway. This particular street is very wide and has had several pedestrian crossing deaths over the last few years. We were in front of a building preparing what we needed to pull a length of cable in the building from the basement to the roof when a kindly elderly woman approached me looking for directions to the local subway station. While the station was only a couple of blocks away it was on the other side of the very busy street and she was not the fastest of walkers and had some bags with her from a shopping trip so I figured the best and safest way to get her to the subway was to walk her myself. So now with bags in hand (and some good natured ribbing from my co-workers who I am sure would have done the same thing) I begin to lead this sweet old lady to her destination. It took 2 cycles of the traffic light for us to cross the street due to its width and her slowed pace plus another 15 minutes to go the 2 blocks but we finally got there. I finally led her down the stairs into the station and I wished her a good day as she went through the turnstile toward her train. To me it was no big deal to take a half hour out of my day to help this person and I would certainly hope that somebody would do the same for my mother before she passed away a year and a half ago. There you have it, my good deed for the day.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I can compare with Captain America over there, walking old ladies to the subway, but I'll give it a shot. ;) My neighbor is a single mother who works pretty hard to make ends meet and provide for her daughter. Last weekend, as I was mowing the lawn for the last time this year, I decided to save her a little work and I mowed her yard also. It's not a huge lawn by any means, but it saved her some time and effort that she can spend on something else now.
ReplyDeleteWell I did the same thing as 82redbirds, mowing a lawn. I got dropped of and it was a surprise for the old couple I knew. After I had mowed there lawn they tried to pay me but I said no. I walked home after that feeling satisfied.
ReplyDeleteToday my best friend accidentally left her guinea pig in her classroom... normally this wouldn't be a problem, but her students had packed her in the travel case with only a little bit of food and no water. She had already left and was almost home when she realized what she had done.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, she had other prior engagements to tend to and couldn't rush back to the classroom... so she called me to see if I had the custodian's phone number (to see when he was leaving).
To spare you from telling the long version of the story... I left my school's talent show a little early, so I could get to her classroom before the custodian locked up... and then I brought it to her.
Anyways... this is a really cool contest. I try to encourage my students to do random acts of kindness... and some of them love it. A lot of them really do feel good about themselves and believe the world is a better place for it.
i am miami6 from the forum im not on twitter facebook or youtube but here it is
ReplyDeletei had tons of things planned with my friends and my mom and dad were going somewhere (can't remember where think it was wal-mart which is a 45 min. drive from our house) long story short i was about to go with my friends when they left my mom said i could go and they would be fine they are 5 and 3 but they had a baby sitter coming over so i said to my friends "actually guys i can't go maybe tomorrow" and i watched my sisters and saved my mom and dad money by not making them pay
This past weekend my son and I (My son is a keyclub member in his school, which is a charity organization that tracks hours the children spend doing community service and not to toot my son's horn but he has lead the class for the last two years)were out collecting for a school dance-a-thon were he raised over 300.00 for JDF. The thing is I don't want to join this contest for me but for my son for all the extra he does that most 15 year olds have no clue is even going on in the world. Thanks
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