Deliberate Act of Kindness



While standing two grocery carts behind an elderly woman’s full cart, I mentally calculated the odds of getting faster service at the self-checkout. But the self-checkout line snaked back into the aisles leading up to it. Who knew how far back it went. I had more than the 15-item maximum for the quick line, so I stayed put.

The elderly woman closely observed every item as it was scanned and the price that it charged. Even though the little payment machine kept beeping at her, she made no attempt to put her card in the chip reader. The clerk announced the grand total and the woman slowly opened her purse and pulled out a wallet.







Focusing her eyes on the bills inside she carefully started counting out the amount owed. I noticed that all of us behind her were watching those shaky hands methodically lay down dollar bills—one by one.





She looked up at the total and realized she didn’t have enough. Without hesitation, the man behind her opened his own wallet, as did the couple behind him. I watched as three people came to this woman’s financial rescue without any hesitation. A deliberate act of kindness.  








I love hearing about those “pay it forward” random acts of kindness, but as I stood watching a deliberate act of kindness in that busy grocery store, I was humbled to see how much it mattered to one elderly woman. Proving yet again that little things are actually much bigger than we realize.

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