Random Acts of Kindness

So for years and years I have been trying to get Kathy, my wife, to go to Starbucks. She wouldn't do it...mainly because she doesn't care for coffee and I think out of protest for what I "spend on a cup of coffee!" (have to hear her say it to get the full effect). Then one day she discovered they sell iced tea and that was all she wrote. If coffee is my legalized drug of choice then iced tea is hers. Now months after discovering this little factoid she goes to Starbucks more than I do...which for those of you who know me..is a lot!

Anyway the other day I was at the office and my phone rang. It was Kathy. I could tell she was excited about something. She proceeded to tell me about how she just encountered something amazing while sitting at the drive-thru of Starbucks. Apparently she was down to her last two dollars but really needed that iced tea so she steered her car into the line at Starbucks. As she scrounged for some change to insure she had enough she pulled up to the window and the Barista handed her her iced tea and said the car in front of her had paid for hers. I would have paid for the next fifty cars to have been there to see her face!

She was certain that she didn't know the person. They left no indication with the Starbucks worker that they knew Kathy either. They simply did a random act of kindness and boy did it make her day. Kathy immediately called my dad who, if you read my BLOG regularly, has experience his own random acts of kindness (search Breakfast Fairy on the BLOG search tool) and I am sure they both went to town on the Ripple Effect of what had just happened.

A simple act of kindness like buying someone's coffee (or iced tea), breakfast or whatever can have the biggest impact on another person. My question to you is how many Ripples are you willing to create anonymously just for the sake of making this world a better place?

That many huh?

Ripple On!!!


Steve

P.S. Here's a neat article on the Starbucks Pay it Backwards concept.