“When did we become a society of people who are so afraid of one another that we think all interactions may be malicious.”
I apologize for not blogging for quite a while. I admit I’d been racking my brains trying to think up something but nothing seemed sufficient. So instead I’m going to repost a brief article my father found on Quora and sent to me in an email. I don’t know the people in this story, I’ve never met them but I was so moved by this story that I just had to share it. All credit for what’s written below goes to the original author. I’m simply the messenger, helping to spread the word:
“When did we become a society of people who are so afraid of one another that we think all interactions may be malicious.”
Author: Vanessa Fregoso (From Quora)
“This evening I made a quick run to the supermarket with my 13 year-old stepdaughter, and my 23 month-old daughter. While I was in line my 2-year-old was eyeballing a little stuffed dog from her stroller. There was an older man in front of us in line who was only buying ice cream. He then asked her ‘what are you looking at?’
When he saw her point to the dog, he picked it up and put it in her hand.
I’ll admit, I freaked out a little. We have only one income, which means we can’t just buy things for the kids on a whim. Things like that need to be planned in our family.
As soon as I saw the look on my baby’s face as she stared into the dog’s big plastic eyes, I was already dreading taking it away from her and hearing her heartbreaking cry.
But then the stranger did something unexpected. He looked at me with such a kind smile on his face and said ‘I’ll buy it for her.’ I was shocked at his kindness and I immediately felt guilty.
Because the other reason I freaked out was because a stranger was getting close to my daughter.
Because I didn’t know what his intentions were.
Because his hand brushed hers when he handed her the dog.
Really, it shouldn’t be that way.
When did we become a society of people who are so afraid of one another that we think all interactions may be malicious.
More importantly, when did I let myself become so disillusioned about others that I automatically think the worst.
The man interacted with my daughter for a minute or so, giggling her little heart out.
It really warmed my heart. It was just a stuffed animal, but really it was so much more. I’m always telling my kids about how important kindness is, and how I feel as though not enough people are kind anymore.
I was glad my eldest stepdaughter was there to see how touched I was by the man’s gesture. I want her, and all my kids for that matter, to go out into the world knowing how important kindness is and how some small things can really be big things.
As we were leaving my stepdaughter looked at me and said “Mommy, that man was so nice!”
My daughter hasn’t put the dog (“Bacon” as my other children have named him) down ever since we left the store. I was so surprised by what happened that I didn’t even think to get the strangers name.
But I did ask for a picture because I wanted to remember that no act of kindness is too small.”
Credit: Vanessa Fregoso