I spent the afternoon looking for kindness in New York City. I wanted to capture it on my camera and write about it today.

I walked several blocks and stopped in a deli to order a fresh juice. 

I sat for a while in Bryant Park.

When it started to get chilly, I headed home. Along the way, I stepped into a little shop that always has good deals.

I went to the best pharmacy/chemist in the city to pick up some vitamins.

Now, just around the corner from home, I’m sitting in our new very spacious neighborhood Starbucks.

I didn’t manage to take a single photo of anyone being kind. But I saw it EVERYWHERE.

At the deli, the sweet girl making juices smiled at me and then at the person behind me, treating us as if we were the first person she’d taken care of all day. She sang a little song to the seemingly shy older man sweeping the floor and he smiled bashfully in return.

At the park, two boys were walking home after school, throwing a football between them as they walked. They were careful to not bother anyone and waited as people passed by. After a rather impressive long bomb, a man sitting at a table started clapping, to which a nearby couple joined in the applause. The boys laughed and waved as everyone around them smiled.

As I headed home, a woman stepped out of cab and tripped, falling down on the street, just shy of the curb. A well dressed man in a suit and standing nearby immediately ran to her side. As he took her hand and helped her up, a woman approached, asking if she was OK, dusting the dirt off the back of her coat for her. The woman who had fallen appeared to be from out of town. Both strangers helped get her luggage from the cab to the sidewalk, checking several times that she didn’t need any more help before wishing her well and waving goodbye.

In the shop that always has good deals, the UPS man was delivering several boxes. The three ladies who worked there offered him a water and chatted with him as they all worked together to get the boxes out of the way of customers. As he left they said, “Thank you! You’re our favorite!”

At the chemist, a woman asked an employee about a specific vitamin. After his helpful response, another customer approached the woman and struck up a conversation based on the one she had just overheard. They spent several minutes, these two strangers, offering advice and compassion to one another, recommending what had worked for each of them. They parted ways with thanks and appreciation.

And now, at my neighborhood Starbucks, I sit here, realizing I don’t have a single photo to share with you, dear reader. But know this, your kindness is noticed. And more than that, it matters. It makes the world go round. Surely I wasn’t the only one to see it today. I was impacted by it and wasn’t the direct recipient of any of it. Isn’t that just kind of magical?

Thank you, friends.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robyn Bomar, founder of the Birthday Project, speaks to groups of all ages across the country about what it means to celebrate with kindness and how to live a life of INTENTIONAL kindness. You can learn more about Robyn at https://www.thebdayproject.com/.

Original Post: https://www.thebdayproject.com/blog/march-09th-2017