Do to others what you would have them do to you

- Matthew 7:12

What is so wrong with the world that one act of kindness can bring someone so close to tears? How can it be so surprising that a stranger would go out of their way for you? It's so sad to know that the world is such a "Do unto yourself as you would have done unto you"* kind of place.

A few weeks ago, a woman came into the library with an $80 dollar fine. At first she just handed me the overdue books, and was perfectly willing to pay her fines. But as I was checking in the books, she told me she felt really guilty about having them so long, but that she'd been in the hospital for two months because of colon cancer, I think it was.

And in my head, I was like, "Woah, wait a minute. I can't make this woman pay $80 for being in the hospital for two months. That's ridiculous." So I excused myself and went to talk to one of my superiors, who kind of half-sighed at me, but she told me to waive half the fines and have her pay the other half.

I swear, when I told that woman what I was doing, she literally almost cried. And she took my hand and said, "What's your name? Natasja? You are so kind, thank you so much." And I was like, "Well what did you expect? I can't make you pay all that after having been in the hospital."

My point is not to claim to be some kind of a good Samaritan, though the world could certainly use more of those. The point is more that I lost absolutely nothing by showing kindness to a complete stranger. And even if I had to go out of my way to help someone else, that lose is worth less than what the other person would gain. In other words, generally speaking doing right by showing kindness is profitable, no matter where the profit is. Does that make sense?

While I understand how uncomfortable it may be for some people to step out and do "the right thing," I still find it very sad that it should come as such a surprise. We should grateful, of course, but surprised? That's silly.


*I hope you appreciate my intentional misquotation