Toll Road Generosity

Over a year ago I was driving across the Ohio Tollway.  As I approached the first toll the booth operator waved me on as she said, ” the car in front of you pay for you.”   As I drove away, I couldn’t help thinking of the brilliance in the simplicity of this Random Act of Kindness.  With a few dollar, someone was able to give generosity to a total stranger in a completely random and anonymous way.  In turn, I imitated the Random Act of Kindness at the very next toll for the car behind me.

Kind Clown Goes to Jail

Here is a short story about a person simply trying to have a little fun while doing some random acts of kindness, and he or she ends up in trouble for no good reason.

“I live in the Akron, Canton area and there was a very nice person walking in the Akron area dressed as a clown. What this person was doing was adding a quarter to every parking meter that had a car parked at it. When the police officers found out what he was doing, they arrested him! He spent the night in jail and is now facing charges (just fines).

Started to be a nice act of kindness, but what is the world coming to? That’s why I like your site so much, it’s nice to see that there is still some decency, and beautiful people around.”

-RAK Home Page

Mom has a Flat Tire

A woman with a full car of children stopped to get gas at a local gas station.  As she filled up her car a man notified her that she had a flat tire.  The woman went to the cashier and asked for assistance.  Without any hesitation the cashier told her what to purchase in order to fix the flat tire and he would provide the labor.  In a light shower of rain the cashier worked on the tire filling it with air and tire filler which would patch the tire until she purchased new ones.  It is hard to find this kind of service no-a-days.

A Little Extra Can Feed a Person

If you live in a good size city there is a good chance that you'll see homeless and hungry individuals. Last winter I was in Burger King waiting in line when the woman in front of me gave the employee a five dollar bill and said," will you buy the gentleman over there whatever this can get him?"

The man she had indicated was a person I had seen mainly a time asking people for money and whom was in Burger King to get out of the cold. It was really cool to see a true random act of kindness happen before my eyes no matter how big or small the act is.

Poor Man Looks for Cans in Trash Can Finds Some Luck

There was a person who lived in a house where quite a few homeless people rummage through the trash looking for aluminum cans to make money off of recycling them.  It is good that the cans are being recycled, but sucks because of the means to which they get to the recycling center. 

One day the resident of the house was walking outside and meet a man digging for can in his trash.  The resident was used to this and thought nothing of it because it became a norm.  The people of the neighborhood never got mad because the can hunters always cleaned up the mess they made during their search.  What caught the resident's attention was the wheel chair the elderly man was in as he was can hunting.  

The resident was rather young and had a bunch of aluminum cans inside his house from a party the night before.  He hurried back inside collected all the cans into one garbage bag (filling it) and rushed outside before the man moved on to the next-door neighbor's.  

The resident felt bad that he couldn't do more, but the man in the wheel chair was thankful for having a full bag of aluminum cans without having to look for them. 

Lost Dog, Found Owner, Good Feeling

About two years ago there was a lab/retriever mix matted and hungry outside my college dorm.  I noticed that it had a collar so I approached it and caught it by the collar. (I worked at a vet clinic for over 2 years so I knew what I was doing…always be careful around an animal you do not know.) 

I got an old telephone cord and tied it around the collar as a leash and walked the dog to the on campus police station.  They looked at me like I was crazy to stop and help the animal, but helped me just the same.  I called the number on the tag multiple times and got an answering machine.  

About an hour and a half that I found the dog, the police and I got a hold of the owner’s friend (I can't quite remember how) who was watching the dog.  She came to pick up the animal and thanked me and the campus police. 

Luckily I had a long break between classes at this time, so I didn't miss anything important. 

The History of Random Acts of Kindness

According to www.auscharity.org:

It all started in a Sausalito, California, restaurant in 1982 when Anne Herbert scrawled the words "practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a place mat. From there it spread to bumper stickers, quietly at first, but with all the powerful momentum of something important–calling us to lives of caring and compassion. Random Acts of Kindness, true stories of acts of kindness, was published in February 1993 and set off a chain reaction. Articles appeared in nearly every newspaper in the U.S., and hundreds of radio stations devoted airtime to the cause. Toward the end of 1993, a Bakersfield, California, professor gave a class assignment to do a random act of kindness–unleashing yet another flood of stories. The concept continues to spread, and we hope it will carry on until the beauty of simple kindness touches–and changes–us all.

Definition of Random Acts of Kindness

According to Wikipedia:

A random act of kindness or RAoK is a selfless act performed by kind people to either help or cheer up a random stranger, for no reason other than to make people happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, RAoKs are encouraged by various online and offline communities.

An example of a random act of kindness is, when paying the toll at a toll booth on a highway, to pay the toll for the car behind you as well.

The second week of February is Random Act of Kindness week.

The phrase is a modification, or mangling, of "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty", coined by Anne Herbert, as well as a play on the phrase "random act of violence."

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Meter Beater

I was in the city today and was just about to leave when I noticed the car in front of me's meet just ran out of time.  So I slipped an extra quarter in it before I left.  The interesting thing about this is that I had to go back in the city today and only had a dime which would get me 6 minutes.  (not enough time for me to park and drop off the cd I needed to deliver) The meter I stopped at was out of order and when I was about to get back into my car I notice a woman getting into hers to leave two automobles ahead of me.  Once she left I pulled into her spot and when I went to the working meter it still had 15 minutes left on it.  Talk about Karma….