Three things happened recently that showed my family how much-Kindness counts.
One of the soccer moms stopped me to say how much she appreciated my son going out of his way to be kind to her son. I thanked her and then made my typical sarcastic remark, "We'll let him eat tonight." My son knew that the injured player was struggling and he knows how that feels. Watching every practice, sitting on the bench during the game, feeling like "poop". Not his actual words, but I can't type that here.
My oldest son has been getting up early to workout before class each day so he is one of the first and only people in the cafeteria. Two days in a row he watched someone struggling to get breakfast due to a language barrier. On the third day, not knowing the students native language but hoping it was worth a try he said Hello in Mandarin. The students face lite up. The cobbled together a little Mandarin and a lot of hand signals and he helped him get breakfast. The student cam back later and held up his smartphone which read, "Thank you so much. My name is Sung I am Korean. You helped me very much."
I have been interviewing candidates and trying to hire someone at work. Finding someone has been difficult. Having formerly helped people build their resume and learn interview skills I find myself giving out more tips then finding candidates. Twice now in the interview the candidate has broken down about the struggle to find a job and the anxiety of interviewing. Both times we stopped, took a deep breathe, and I shared with them tips and tricks as well as my own stories of struggle to find work.
My family knows that I am interviewing candidates and they ask how it's going. I have shared with them what a struggle it is, especially now, to be in the job market. In my pre-kids life I worked for a Non-profit agency that helped people build their resume, learn interview skills, and worked with employers directly to find them employment. Needless to say I am willing to overlook the poorly written resume and help them our during the interview. I may not have a candidate yet, but I have helped quite a few job seekers do better the next time.
My husband and I preach a lot about being kind, helping where you can, making a real connection with people. I am always hoping we have also been an example of this, but many times the opportunities that present themselves are not in front of others. Hearing thank you from another mom, hearing my son say someone stopped to thank him, tells me that they don't have to be there to see it. And that Kindness Counts!!
