When has someone touched your heart by doing something surprisingly kind? (Tip: this is a great question to ask others, especially when you’re looking for conversations at holiday parties and dinners)
This question forms the basis for my next book, Good Samaritans: Stories of People Making a Difference. This book is going to follow in the footsteps of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series insofar that it will be a collection of real stories that prove there is good in the world. It will, however, simply be stories about people doing selfless acts of kindness. A Good Samaritan refers to someone who acts in real love, love that isn’t judgemental or come with demands; it’s simply a gift we offer without need of reciprocation… It’s from a parable taught by Jesus (Luke 10:30-37). I’m currently half way finished writing Men are like Dogs & Women are like Cats: Learning to Appreciate our Differences, which is my follow up book to Emotional Sex: Making Good Relationships Great, but I’m really excited about this new book idea because it’s more than just my own thoughts and insights. Plus, it’s a book that proves that the world is full of good people with good stories. It’s more than a world of tragedy as we see on a daily basis in the news. Acts of kindness that may not be newsworthy in our shock driven media, but these are the stories that we need to be hearing. The best thing about this book is asking people the above question. It’s amazing the stories that come out. If you’re talking with someone try asking them this question or something similar. One gentleman told me a story he’d never told anyone else because he had never thought to share it and the question sparked his memory.
What I’m looking for are three basic things:
1) Someone who has done something surprisingly kind that has stuck with you whether it was something you witnessed or heard about in a book or documentary,
2) An organization that has formed on the basis of kindness to others (e.g. the Marine Mammal Hospital in San Francisco http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/, Samaritan’s Purse http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/),
3) An act of kindness that you’re particularly proud of doing
These don’t have to be big stories or life changing moments. They just need to be something that demonstrates what true love is. A great example of this is in a blog I posted about a month ago (http://www.emotionalsex.ca/my-good-samaritan/), and here’s another example…
When I was in grade ten, my youth pastor, Scott Jones, set up a mission trip to Chicago that I was fortunate enough to go on. This was a trip that changed the way I see life, and particularly how I see those who live in the streets. We went after exams at the end of January and the weather in Chicago, with wind, averaged -40 degrees. It was cold. I don’t mean it was cold like ‘I’m chilly’ cold; I mean it was ‘I have booger icicles’ cold. The funny thing is the locals would hear we were from Canada and say things like: “This must be nothing for you.” Thank goodness, no; -40 is awful!… Yet, we still bought ice cream every day… I was young and dumb… or I guess I just need to say I was young because I’m still dumb… my fiancé will attest to that. Near the end of the week we stopped at McDonalds for some takeout because we were in a bit of hurry. We were all really hungry because we he had just finished working hard scrubbing clean a cockroach infested apartment. In retrospect it’s strange to think that we were after this. People don’t usually see a cockroach and think “I’m feeling peckish. Cockroaches are like brownies with legs.” We were helping a charity group who were running a housing complex for people struggling financially. The former tenant of this apartment was a purse thief… at least we were pretty sure he was a purse thief because he had fifteen purses in his bedroom; either that or he had bought the purses as gifts to fifteen of his friends; yes, that must be it. After some lack luster service, our group of twelve left McDonalds with our lunches in paper bags in order to eat at our next project site. As we stepped outside, about fifteen feet in front of us was a homeless man rummaging through a half full garbage can. Without hesitation, Scott walked up to this gentleman, put his hand on his shoulder, and with a friendly smile he handed him the bag of food. After the homeless man took the bag, Scott continued walking like nothing had happened. I remember seeing this and being blown away. Not only did Scott give up his lunch, it was -40 degrees out. Even if I was unselfish enough to offer my food to a homeless person, I was too cold to be thinking of others. Did I mention it was -40 out? Did I mention -40 is cold? Yet, despite the hunger and the temperature, Scott role modelled what real love looks like; it’s selfless and kind. What amazes me about this event is this summer I reconnected with Scott and I mentioned this story to him. Like many of the kind actions that happen around us, he had no recollection it ever took place. An act of kindness that has stuck with me for twenty years was so natural for him that his mind just let it go. Isn’t it amazing the difference we can make in someone’s life when we’re kind? Sometimes the biggest impact we have in someone’s life is through something we have no idea even matters. That means by simply being kind, we can change the world without even realizing it. Isn’t it time we all started being more kind?
This book I’m putting together is about acts of kindness, which oddly enough requires me to rely on people doing an “act of kindness” to help me make this possible. Will you help me? Will you send me your stories/idea for a story and/or pass this message to a friend who will have a story to share? Real or fake names can be used, and I am happy to help you put your stories together.
Stories and ideas can be emailed me to me at rev.chad.david@gmail.com.
May your holidays be as blessed as the blessings you put into it.
Rev. Chad David, ChadDavid.ca, Learn to Love Dumb People