Kindness to a stranger

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Aesop

Last night I had a very interesting and inspiring journey home. On the train I ended up sitting with 3 young people who seemed like they were friends, later I realised they had just met on the train. One lad was quite drunk and fairly loud, he was ranting about anything and everything. I got the impression that he had quite a lot of stuff going on, and through talking to him I realised that he was a genuinely nice person, but the alcohol had added on a deceptive layer to him. Then someone else got on the train, who was very offended by this lad's ranting, he started insulting him and calling him names. I asked him to calm down and to stop being so rude.

Two minutes later and it was my stop, as I got off I realised that the man who was very angry, upset and offended by the lad's behaviour had also got off.

I approached him and said I just wanted to see if he was alright. He wasn't. The lad had said something that really upset him. It was also obvious that he'd had a few drinks too. We were walking the same direction, he calmed down a bit, I felt safe. I decided to walk with him. We talked about all sorts of things, where we had been, what we do, what we enjoy doing, plans. He stopped and said 'who are you?' I replied 'I'm Tanya, nice to meet you'. He said that people don't just talk to strangers, why would I want to know if he was ok? 

He was touched and humbled by my positivity, my passion and I suppose my story. The last thing he said to me was 'you have restored my faith in humanity'. I know he was drunk and he probably can't remember half of the walk, but I was inspired to see him shift in his mood. Alcohol is just a layer, sometimes it brings out a hidden nature and sometimes it can cover things up. Last night I felt he was being sincere.

Writing this article is not an ego driven trip, I wanted to share the experience with the idea that more people are compassionate, caring, kind and even smiling to strangers! 

We judge people, we judge others and we judge ourselves. I find this becomes more evident when people have been drinking, the sober people can end up judging the drunks. But why do we judge when we don't know their backstory? 

So, even if it is sharing a smile with a passer by, a friendly hello, or having a joke, it all makes a massive difference. It makes a difference to us as individuals and to the world. 

Thank you