The Beautiful Thing That Happened When A Random Stranger Showed Kindness

In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 1 of Life Column

It was one of those days — the day when it rains incessantly, you can’t remember when was the last time you saw the sunshine, when life demands your attention for stuff like dropping off the kids at school, going to the office, picking up groceries, but all you want to do is curl up on your couch.

It’s a very common day here in the Netherlands during winter. You desperately look forward to the Spring and curse the damn rain and the gloomy dull sky that makes you feel there’s no hope.

It was one of those days for me.

It had rained the night before and the entire day. The cold rainwater leaked through my shoes (was wearing the wrong shoe) in the morning on my way to my office making me feel way more uncomfortable and irritable than I usually am.

I had a difficult and demanding day at work. I got wet again while coming back from the office to the station and then realized the trains were canceled. And I thought — life just sucks.

I finally managed to get a train and reached my station. I had to walk another 20 minutes in that rain.

I came out of the station, too eager to walk back home as quickly as possible to some dry clothes, warm food, my comfortable couch, and Netflix.

That is when I saw this new food joint.

My glasses were wet despite the hoodie. My vision was blurred. But the twinkling lights from this very small newly-opened food joint drew my attention. It felt like a little paradise. The smell of freshly made empanadas wafted through the air and made me feel hungry.

This was the first time in the day when something made sense and made me feel good.

I have never bought anything from this kiosk but the empanadas inside the glass cabinet looked enticing. I decided to make a quick stop and buy a few empanadas for my family to go with dinner.

I carefully looked at all the options and ordered a few samples of each. The lady in the kiosk looked friendly and asked me if I would like to take some freshly made Chimichurri sauce to go along with the empanadas. I said why not? I love Chimichurri sauce and never say ‘No’ to it.

Then she started baking them slowly in her oven, while I waited.

After she had baked and packed the warm empanadas, I took my card out of my phone’s jacket and swiped it to pay. Surprisingly nothing happened. I kept trying and realized with big embarrassment that it was my train card and not my debit or credit card.

I searched the pockets of my jacket and realized I was missing my wallet. I felt a panic in my body. I kept searching for my wallet in my backpack, in other pockets, and everywhere, but couldn’t find it.

It dawned on me that I must have left it at home. I was red with embarrassment.

And because I have my train card always on the jacket of my phone, I didn’t need my debit/credit card and didn’t even realize that I wasn’t carrying it, until now.

After searching high and low, I had to embarrassingly admit that I didn’t have any money to pay for it.

I didn’t have the heart to cancel my order at that moment because she had already warmed the empanadas for me and now, she would have to throw them away unless she could sell them immediately. At the same time, I was really frustrated that I had so elaborately ordered my food while not checking if I had my wallet.

This is when the lady spoke up. Very kindly, she offered me to take the empanadas and pay her another day.

I was speechless for a minute or so. I wasn’t expecting this. I was expecting an angry or at least an annoyed seller frowning at this stupidity of mine.

I have many instances when people didn’t believe me and assumed that I was lying.

Once a bus driver didn’t stop at my bus stop and didn’t let me and my seven-year-old daughter get down at my stop because he thought I intentionally swiped the card a little earlier (even though I swiped it after the announcement of my stop) so that I didn’t have to pay an extra 10 cents. Yes, just 10 cents! My daughter had a high fever and my arms were full of stuff.

I have felt anger, hurt, sad, or humiliated.

But this was something I had never experienced.

She didn’t know me at all. I have never shopped here before. She had no idea if I would ever come back to pay. So why would she show such kindness and compassion towards me? That was beyond me.

Perhaps she was watching me all this time and understood that it was genuinely a mistake and not something intentional. Or perhaps she is one kind person who believes in others and kindness.

I looked at her for a while and a tear almost rolled down.

Even though she insisted and asked me to enjoy the empanadas and not worry about paying her, I could not of course take the food without paying. No, that would give me so much guilt.

I thanked her and told her I was genuinely touched by her gesture but I would need to call my husband to help me out.

I still had my quota of surprises left.

She insisted that I should not bother him in this terrible weather to come all the way just to pay for these empanadas.

I had to tell her that no stranger had ever shown me such kindness and how I wished everyone would be like her and believe in others. But I did need to pay her to be able to enjoy the food guilt-free.

So I did the next best thing that I could think of — I took out my phone to call my husband. In the end, my husband did come to my rescue and pay for the food.

When I came home, I smelled the warm empanadas and enjoyed them with the delicious homemade Chimichurri sauce that accompanied it. My stomach was full. But it’s my heart that’s still filled with gratitude.

This one random act of kindness made me believe in humanity again, which I had almost lost because of all the negative experiences I have had so far. She made me believe again that there are good people out there and good things can still happen.

And now I want to pass this on to others so they are inspired to be kind as well. This inspiring cycle is called the Kindness Boomerang, and I discovered it a couple of years ago, with this one small video that changed my mindset about life and gratitude, and I hope it changes yours too.

Thank you Dr. Preeti Singh for this inspiring article.

This heartwarming article by Libby Shively McAvoy tells us how people show true colors in challenging times and how that makes a difference.

Thank you for reading my story.

Many thanks to the DEP editors Dr. Gabriella Korosi, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Dr. Preeti Singh, Annelise Lords, Libby Shively McAvoy, and DR Rawson — The Possibilist.