ToT: Kindness for Strangers

TOPIC:
Random Act of Kindness Challenge! Plan ahead and carry out a random act of kindness for a stranger. How did you come up with your plan? What was the response? How did you feel before, during, and after?


I think the most hilarious thing about this challenge is that in the very recent past, I committed several RAKs (Random Acts of Kindess) but now it has taken me what seems like a million years to come up with ONE decent one.

I think the SECOND most hilarious thing about this is that I have decided what I would like to do, but haven't done it yet.  And writing about it before I actually DO it pretty much takes the "random" nature of this challenge straight up out of the picture.

I love to do things like this.  On Christmas Eve, we went out to dinner.  The restaurant was PACKED.  There were approximately 2.5 waitresses working.  Ours was not only very good with the service, but was extremely pleasant (she even had a fairly lengthy conversation with Jayna about Santa) and acted like she was absolutely not pissed off to be there...and that attitude was very contrary to the rest of the staff.  When I signed the credit card slip, I tipped her a whopping 30 bucks on a 23 dollar check.  I didn't stick around to see her reaction...in fact, I didn't need to see her reaction.  I felt confident that she worked for that 30 dollars and that she knew it.  I knew that with her attitude she'd appreciate it.

I think that's one catch to a RAK.  It's very hard to choose one that is TOTALLY random.  I can only speak for myself, but I always feel that even if I think I'm doing something random, that if I really think about it, I have somehow justified that the person/organization/etc. DESERVES my kindness.

A few days ago, I was going to put my RAK into action by paying for the person behind me in the McDonald's drive thru.  But right as I was ordering, the person started honking and cursing at everyone in the line because we apparently weren't moving fast enough.  All I ordered was a soda.  It took 25 seconds to order.  And at that moment, I said to myself, "Self, that jerkass doesn't deserve any kindness."

See?  See what I mean?!?  If I really wanted this to be "random" I would've still paid for that jerk's order. 

Anyhoo...we all know that I just moved.  And most you us know that I have recently complained about having toooooo many blankets.  We all also know my affinity for my canine friends.  And most of us know that Jayna will be getting another dog soon.   (Oh...y'all didn't know that?  Oops.  We're getting another rescue dog soon.  Just as soon as we have a fence.)  We will be adopting that dog from the Southside Animal Shelter.  You can say what you want about rescues, but these people work their hearts out for rescue animals. 

They are always in need of donations, monetary or supplies.  It can be something as little as 10 bucks (that pays for the microchipping of 2 animals) or just a few gallons of bleach or some dog food.  And after having rescued 3 dogs, I know that they'll be grateful. 

Jayna and I will be delivering some supplies to them tomorrow...including some blankets that I have entirely tooooo many of.  I am using this opportunity to teach Jaynie about giving and kindness.  We'll see how that goes.  I'll keep you updated on the progress of our mission.

What about all of YOU?  Do you practice RAKs?  How and when?  And don't forget to check out the other ToTers in the sidebar!!