Random acts of kindness are doing something nice or kind for another human being. Usually, the person you are doing the kindness for is someone you don’t know, and the person was not expecting it.

I was a recipient of a random act of kindness in a McDonald’s Drive thru line. I admit, I was a little miffed that a car cut me off in the two-lane ordering area. I was truly shocked when I got to the payment area and I was told that the car who cut me off had actually paid for my order.

I like to think that that car was quick to get in front of me because the person was planning that kindness. It can be such a little thing, but in this life that may be all it takes to take a cranky day into a much nicer one. It may remind us to have gratitude for others that understand and care about the human condition enough to make it better for some else.

When I think of random acts of kindness, I also remember a story from one of the people that comes in on a regular basis to Trillium. She said she was out having dinner with her husband, and someone paid their bill. It made her feel good that someone was so kind. The person who paid for their dinner did so anonymously. People don’t need to know who performed the kindness, just that it was done.

Being a recipient of a random act kindness can easily make you want to do one for another person. That is called, “paying it forward.”