You Might Not Feel Extraordinary But Your Effect On The World Is
Reimagine your life in a way that takes you from passive to pro-active and you’ll see that small acts of selflessness can add up.
Every day we all get up — many of us drink coffee, shower, get dressed, eat, and leave the house. At least in the “before times,” we’d leave our homes and head to work.
We know we interact with lots of people as we go about our lives, but do we ever really give any thought to how we really affect the people around us?
This was imagined in a pre-covid world, we’ll get back there eventually so suspend your disbelief in that context.
Here’s you, fictionally going through your day. Give the scenarios some thought, they’re probably more common than you think.
You get on the bus. You got the last seat.
You see a guy who looks exhausted you get up and give him your seat. At first, he refuses, but after a little coaxing, he sits down.
He’s grateful, he has a story.
What you didn’t know is that he is going from his night job to his day job. He’s had less than four hours in between shifts and is exhausted.
He is grateful for your kindness. He wants to cry. Nobody ever does anything nice for him. He gets 1/2 hour of rest until he gets to work now, rest he desperately needs.
He was feeling so alone and desperate. He was contemplating suicide. You acknowledged him, and he doesn’t feel so alone now.
You’ve saved his life.
You get to work.
A group of co-workers is talking about that weird girl that just started, nobody likes her. She doesn’t talk. They invite you over to join in.
You walk past the group and get to work. When you see that co-worker sitting alone at lunch, you sit down with her and have a chat. You don’t care what other people think. You like her.
She is grateful, she has a story.
She had a rough childhood filled with abuse and neglect. Despite it all, she managed to get an education and pull herself up. Because of this, she doesn’t feel comfortable revealing too much about herself to other people.
You’ve made her feel safe. She can finally let her guard down a bit.
She was going to quit, but now she feels safe. She’ll stay long enough for people to get to know her now.
On your lunch break.
You see someone’s key card has fallen behind a chair. You pick it up, find out who it belongs to and give it back.
She is grateful, she has a story.
It fell out of her purse when she was answering a call about her sick child.
You’ve saved that person from getting in trouble again. Her boss doesn’t like it when her kids get in the way of her work. You’ve saved her job, she can’t afford to get written up again.
All she could think about all day was looking for yet another job. She has to keep working, she is the breadwinner of her family.
She can stop worrying now.
You leave work.
You’re in line at the grocery store.
You see a bunch of racists harassing someone.
You go and stand beside the person. You shield them from the harassment and ask if they’d like you to walk them to their car. A couple of other people see what you are doing and offer to come with you.
The haters walk away. They’re cowards, that’s why they pick on people they see as vulnerable. When a group stands up to them they scurry off.
They probably won’t have a big epiphany, but the next time they try to pick on someone, they might remember that there are other people out there who will stand with the vulnerable, and that makes them think twice.
He is grateful, he has a story.
He lost his spouse and two of his three children to war in another country.
He came from a place where you get killed for having an opinion and barely escaped with his life.
He needs to stay alive for the child he still has, or there will be nobody to care for them at all. He’s all alone.
He felt disillusioned in this country that promised freedom and equality. He didn’t realize that when he got here, he’d be hated just for his skin color and the way he talks.
Finally, he feels seen and accepted. It gives him the strength to carry on. You’ve saved this person from constant fear.
You’re on the way home.
A pregnant woman gets on the bus, there are no more seats.
You get up and let her sit down.
She is grateful, she has a story.
What you don’t know is that she has two jobs and two other kids.
Her husband passed away shortly after they found out she was pregnant with this last child. The pregnancy isn’t going well, but she can’t take any time off work. She’s on the way to pick up her other kids. This is the only rest she’ll have until bedtime.
You gave her the personal space and rest she needs to collect her thoughts, she won’t scream at her kids tonight.
You made the lives of her children better.
You get home.
Your neighbor’s trash can is still in their driveway, 2 days after collection.
You pop over and grab it and put it back for them.
They are grateful, they have a story.
What you don’t’ know is that your neighbor had chemotherapy yesterday and can barely get out of bed.
His wife works two jobs now, and she is too exhausted when she gets home to even get that garbage can. They know people have been judging them because the state of their house has gone downhill, but they don’t have the heart to tell anyone he’s sick.
You saved them a little extra energy that they can put towards getting through their day.
These are made-up scenarios in a made-up day of made-up life.
But every day you have the same choices to make, you encounter people whose stories you don’t know with problems you can’t fathom.
You have no idea of how the many small choices you make in a day affect other people.
Look back on your life. I’ll bet there is at least one small kindness that changed your life and at least one time that you’d wished someone had helped.
You can either take the path of kindness or the path of indifference. You’ll probably get home at around the same time anyway.
Thanks for reading!
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