Random Acts of Kindness

It's funny how one act of kindness can produce so many ripples.

I was at a hair salon yesterday where the topic of conversation among all of the employees was how they couldn't believe a 20somthing girl paid for the haircut and tip for an older lady she did not know. The employees were telling their customers every detail about what happened and kept asking, "I wonder why she did it?"

The stylist who had done the hair of the generous gifter said that the gifter knew it the older woman was likely on a limited income. She wanted to do something nice for someone and that older woman looked like a good candidate.

The stylist working on my hair was the one who received the payment and tip from the 20something. She totally got it. She knew that one act of kindness turns into another. She felt the woman who received the generous gift would likely go out and do something kind for another.

How many other people there -- stylists and customers who heard the story -- will also go out and do some random act of kindness? Who knows. Even if none of them do, that one act made a lot of people feel good that day and it made them stop and think for a moment about acts of kindness. Some of them had heard of "random acts of kindness" or "paying it forward", but they associated it with buying someone a coffee or paying the toll for the car behind you on a toll road--something much less expensive than a $32 haircut and an $8 tip.

I haven't had a chance to create and leave much art recently. It has been a hectic few months staging a house for sale, packing up, and moving across the country. As soon as I'm settled in, I'll be back into the art supplies and creating little gifties to leave for people. But, in the meantime, I'll be thinking about random acts of kindness I can do without my art supplies. People have been very generous to me during this stressful time. I really need to start giving back.