A random act of kindness

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions and the roots spring up and make new trees. 

I can't remember what month it was but I remembered  how furious the sun was, probably furious at my folks who insisted I took all manners of secondary school entrance exams at primary 6. At a point I was convinced my parents were determined to make me attend two secondary schools at once.
I must have written a million of those placement exams: Navy, Airforce, Command, Unity schools, Lagos State schools, Ogun state and even Gifted school in Suleja.
My parents were not taking any chances and as pep talk before setting off to write those exams, my mum will remind me of my reserved opening as a tailoring apprentice in Mrs Majekodunmi 's shop at Ojuwoye junction if I dared to fail the exams. So I guess it was understandable the sun revolted on my behalf. This was in the early 90's and the sun was kinder then but on this particular day the sun vexed gan ni o.

I had finished one of those exams and I was spent more than usual, I was growing a molar tooth and the throbbing pain left my jaws suspended.
Trudging along, I tried making my way home when I passed besides a roadside"pastry shop",somewhere around Moshalasi bustop.
Now it was the early 90's and asides established expensive fast food joints like Yetkem, Chicken George and Murphy's burgers,these roadside pastry shops were fast springing up and giving cheaper alternative to the existing brands and because of the location and " optics" of this particular store it became a huge temptation fighting off the alluring voices of the glistening meatpies that kept whispering my name from the confines of their showglass.

 I tried hard to move along until I became convinced without doubt that I was going to die if I didn't eat one of those luscious beauties. I knew I had to save myself from an ultimely death. Approaching the kiosk and armed with the one naira pocket money my dad had given me earlier in the day whilst dropping me off at the exam venue, I boldly asked for the price, the woman replied "two naira" Whatt??!! two naira?? I echoed the woman 's response in a grief stricken voice, two naira bawo? It was as if the balloon of my morale was punctured with a needle... I was DEFLATED! (so I wasn't going to eat any of these meat pies ?) I swallowed hard, extremely hard and as I made to turn around, in that micro second from nowhere, this man (angel?) spoke up with this amazing baritone that convinced me beyond doubts that he was truly an angel. He asked the woman to give me one meatpie and a bottle of coke.... till today I still remember how chilled the drink was.

WHATT??!!😳 I must have spoken Portuguese while trying to articulate the right words because the man had this amused look and with a half smile across his mouth.He waved whatever I was trying to say off leaving me with no opportunity to decline his magnanimity 😉(as a child with home training).
As a child I was overwhelmed with complex mixtures of emotions which I later realized is called GRATITUDE.
I was so awashed with gratitude that tears threatened to well up in my eyes. That was the first time I was experiencing an unexpected act of kindness from a stranger. That moment in time became a turning point for me as the realisation of how we are saddled with the responsibility of bringing kindness, invariably happiness to others dawned on me.
I gulped the drink down in quick succession and took the meatpie home to show my mum(sebi I told you I was a child with home training 😉).
I remembered swallowing the meatpie as I couldn't chew properly because of my swollen gum and making a solemn promise to always pay it forward every opportunity I get. Almost three decades later I still pay that random act of kindness forward aware of  the fact that an unexpected act of benevolence may not change the world but it might make a difference in the life of someone.

Kindness is igniting a light in someone else for no reason other than watch them glow.
To that stranger-thank you for sowing that seed of kindness, I'm more appreciative today as I was more than 20 years ago. Thank you for the seed of empathy which has been my guiding principle and to all the selfless angels, thanks for shinning light in our path hence making our journey easier .
Every act of random kindness creates a ripple with no end and inspite of the tons of treacherousness that abound in this world we must always always try to feel  genuinely for the next person and respond with empathy. Unexpected kindness in the most powerful yet understated agent in human change..


A generous heart, kind words, life of service and compassion are things that renew humanity (Buddha). 

Let's us be kind to one another.