Happy World Kindness Day (November 13)

Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” —Henry James

We were living in Chicago during the Hub’s sabbatical year. Now, I was born in Chicago and have lived there several times off and on during my life. I love it. But I also know the city has some dangerous places and scary people. If you can’t avoid them, you lock windows and doors and try to get past them as quickly as possible. So there I was, driving through one of the scary bits in my soccer-mom minivan, baby asleep in her carseat behind me. I was focussed on just getting out of there.

It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was already setting in long shadows when I looked in my rear mirror and saw a huge bearded man whose leather vest showed arms covered in tattoos. He rode a massive motorcycle that seemed to be mostly made of gleaming chrome, and he was yelling something at me. I didn’t hesitate. My foot hit the gas and the van shot forward as I wrestled it around and through the potholes. But the faster I went, the closer he came, yelling all the way. I was almost in tears, muttering words I hoped the scary-verbal child in the backseat wouldn’t be able to repeat to her grandparents. Then, like a miracle, I shot through a light as it turned red. My pursuer was trapped by cross-traffic. In relief, I puttered up the street just as I realized that the train barriers ahead were flashing and lowering. I had to stop.

I watched in my window as the motorcycle came toward me, swerving around the back of my van until the gigantic biker was next to me. He leaned over and rapped on my window. Maybe I could talk him out of whatever he was planning? Surely, with people around… Meekly, I unrolled the window halfway.

“Lady.” He smiled at me. “You lost this when you hit that pothole back there.” He held up my hubcap. (My obscenely-expensive new hubcap, since the original set had been stolen the week we moved to Chicago.) “Have a good one!” He handed over the hubcap, waved to the baby, and roared off.

Kindness: May you recognize it when you experience it and may you pass it along. Because if there was ever a time when we all need kindness, it’s now.

[Image generated from Canva AI]

What was your most memorable random act of kindness?