I always forget there's a 'day' for this, because it's just something I do, whenever the opportunity arises. If I come across someone disabled, at the store, I'll offer help; offer honest compliments where I see the chance, smile at folks walking by; play peek-a-boo with a little one to keep them happily occupied, while their guardian/mom/dad/____ digs for change, etc; cover someone's tab - secretly, if possible; pick up whatever another has dropped, to give it back to them; catch a person who left the store without their bag; offer a warm, dry, clean, smooth-rolling shopping cart to someone who looks like they could use it (i.e., the person with an armload of wiggly toddler, the shuffling elderly person, etc), anything else that seems like a simple thing that could lighten another's load. Back when I had to use the laundromat, if I had any extra change, I'd often plug it into a machine, for the next person, or stuff some into a detergent vending machine.
One time, hubs made me cry, because he abruptly got up from our table at a
coffee shop, and rushed to the register, to pay for the armload of donuts a much older gentleman and a young girl(maybe 12?) was a bit short to pay for. He quietly told the gentleman to put his wallet away, and paid for the whole order. When he came back to our table, he explained that he'd noticed the gentleman was wearing a cap - he was one of the last few of the
Native American WW2 veterans, and he and his great-granddaughter were on their way to the
local VFW, for their weekly coffee and donut breakfast.
I can be just as thoughtless, distracted, and bitchy as anyone else - but, I do make it a goal, each day, to see how many people I can make smile. Some days it works better than others.
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