The Kindness of Strangers

It always takes me by surprise – the small kindnesses of strangers. The way it can just touch the most vulnerable part of you in exactly the tender way you needed. My daughter got hurt at school and I had been holding all of these feelings about it – fear, anger, worry – without fully realizing it until the scheduler at the doctor’s office offered me the exact right moment of kindness. I felt the tears rise and the waves of emotion roll through. This woman likely had dozens of calls with parents this morning, and she could have passed over the moment without the tenderness offered. Yet she didn’t and in so offering that small kindness allowed me to heal the papercuts on my heart. I realized that for those of us that didn’t grow up surrounded by compassionate support, or those that were raised without the understanding that who we are is all we need to be loved, these small kindnesses by strangers are true gifts. There is that old saying “If you can be anything, be kind”. For me, this is what that translates into. Being kind in an unsolicited way tells the recipient that they are exactly right as they are. They are good enough – just because they exist. Everybody craves this, but for those of us who did not grow up with this message, it is a salve for a wounded heart.

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