Random Acts of Kindness

So these past two weeks has been totally crazy - and I think I survived it mainly thanks to the acts of strangers.

Now all of you know how spaced out I can be. I sometimes think I've inherited the absent minded professor syndrome without actually being a professor of sorts - I sometimes drift around without actually being aware of my surroundings until I get hit over the head with it. Case in point - I was at work and minding my own business but somehow was lost in thought and literally ran smack into a wall before I realized I had gone off in the wrong direction and I had reach the end of the building. I can assure you that it was quite painful and left a bruise on my forehead for a day or two.

Anyways - I've been wishing for more work so that I'm not just twiddling my thumb at work and the last two weeks - my wish has been fulfill (careful what you wish for) cause things are seriously beginning to pick up - I find myself totally swamp with trying to get all these process flows everyone suddenly wanted out in time. More on that next time when I discuss work - anyway - needless to say I've gotten to the point where even in my sleep I'm creating process flows - my brain definitely has totally filled up with objects and swim lanes floating around with no thought of anything else -  I've become very absent minded with anything else.  So absent minded in fact that I forgot to bring my wallet one day to work - I went to the cafeteria to pick up food and didn't realized I had no money until I was at the counter. Talk about embarrassing - anyway - I froze and was just totally mortified - a nice gentleman waiting behind me just waived me off and pay for my lunch - now that was very nice - never met him before.  My first random act of kindness from a stranger - considering how cynical and narcissistic this world is becoming - it is amazing in the world of "all about me" - someone actually does something nice with no other reason but to be nice.

2nd act of kindness - I was at the korean grocery store this past weekend and for those who have shop there - know how crazy the checkout lines are - people have 30 -40 items usually. Well - strangely enough I only had 3 items this time - had an overwhelming craving for some seaweed salad and went to pick some up from there (they make really good ones) along with my two packets of seaweed treat - anyway, out of the blues - the person in front of me waived me in front of him - I stared at him in amazement - was this guy seriously going to let me through first - yup - he let me jump ahead of him since he had a cart load of stuff. Now, I know some of my asian friends will not agree, but I think most Asians (I myself included) have a different standard of courteousness - and letting others jump ahead of them in line in a check out counter is not one of them. It just wouldn't occur to me to do it - not that I wouldn't if I thought about it - but just wouldn't occur to me.

3rd act of kindness - yesterday was one of those days - I got in late from dance the night before and went and caught the 5:15 train to NYC yesterday morning. I had intended to drive but decided I was too tire to do that - anyway - after visiting with my parents than dim sum with my mom and some relatives - I was in a semi food coma (everyone know what dim sum does to you) and not in a good mood since as usual my mother could think of nothing to do but harp on my lack of marriage status and kept talking to my aunt and cousin about it and any other people who came up to talk with her - by the end of the meal - I was not a happy camper. I was happy to leave Flushing and start making my way home.

Due to the extreme cost of the train going home - I decided to take the bus - I must have been half asleep when I booked it - but I thought I had booked the 2 pm bus home but had actually booked the 4 pm. Needless to say dawdling around the streets for 2 hours was no fun and on top of that - the bus was half an hour late. By the time I got on - I was exhausted and was not feeling good - I, who have taken endless cruises and other stuff that should make one feel woozy, have never had motion sickness - some how I experience my first bout yesterday. It was not a pleasant ride back home. To top it off, it took 4 1/2 hours to get home - by the time I got to Baltimore Penn - I had miss the Marc train I had plan to take to get back to BWI. An amtrak train had just gotten in and was headed to washington - I was told I could purchase the tix on it - so I ran and got on and what happens? - the conductor told me they charge a penalty for purchasing tix on train if the amtrak office was open (which it was).  It would have cost me $25 to get to BWI - I could have taken a cab for cheaper than that. He must have felt sympathetic to my look of utter sadness since he asked me where I was going again and when I said BWI which was the next stop - he directed me to the dining area and said I could sit there without charge. A nice gesture from a stranger on a much needed ending to a very long day.

So in the past two weeks - I've been fortunate to have had three strangers do something nice for no other reason than the fact that they wanted to. Makes me feel both humble and guilty since as I said before - I don't think I'm a bad person but I have to admit that more often than not - it is all about me. In point and fact - the very fact that I have a blog talking about myself and my life kinda indicates that I'm probably not someone who will be up for citizen of the month award anytime soon.... yet I like to be the kind of person who can brighten up someone else's day for no other reason except just because... (now I know my friends will say that I am a considerate person with them for the most part - at least I hope they think that. :-) Because I truly try to be - however that's because I know them). Being considerate of people you don't know takes I think a little bit more effort than being considerate of those you care about - I like to try being that kind of person - so as another resolution (it's still close enough to new year's) - I am going to try and pay it forward to someone else and hope they do the same.