The story goes like this: I'm running an errand for my brother by picking up groceries at the local Giant grocery market, and as I walk to my vehicle, I notice an older woman, probably mid to late 30's putting away her luggage. I wasn't particularly the most jubilant of people around this time for one reason or another, but I saw she had a plethora, that is to say heaps of groceries to put away. So despite my not really wanting to, I extended my good intentions into helping her put them away, maybe shaving a little time off of her trip to the grocery market. She, as I should have probably expected, turned me down, but the noteworthy thing, and the point of this entry is that she was surprised and almost alarmed by my offer. And that leads to the topic of the blog. Are random acts of kindness really that unusual and unprecedented? Now, I'm sure the more critical reader would wonder why someone who wasn't in a good mood would extend such a charitable offer. Well, simply put, this supposed selflessness came on the merit of karma. That is to say, I felt like I needed a little more favoring from the cosmic scale of good and evil, not that I necessarily believe in such a thing, but it was the notion that crossed my inner brow at the time. Anyway, sociologically speaking, is it truly that peculiar for one person to do unto others as you would have them do unto you? I know I'd want someone to help me with my groceries if I were having a rough day, and I can only assume I didn't appear to be a miscreant. Our American society has been molded on core "Christian" beliefs, beliefs that are supposed to derive from the Bible. A book that puts magnificent stress on the principle of kindness, from Luke 6:35, "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back." Now I'm not a religious man, not even close, but with a society that was forged on such principled good intentions, why is it that in this day and age, random acts of kindness are so seemingly unprecedented. I mean, in hindsight, I'm not actually that surprised that she was so surprised by my magnanimous offer, and I suppose I don't have a proposed resolution to this rhetoric, or a point really, rather merely an observation of our culture. With everything stated, in southern U.S states and European countries, if you enter a store, hospitality and politeness are the first things extended to the consumer, but in our North Eastern culture, it's much more independent and such. Could that perhaps be a reflection of the culture in which I write of? I'm not proposing one is better than the other, and I'm not writing of what is right and wrong. I'm merely penning my observations on to this blog. In any case, that's something for you readers to mull over and think about. This isn't a call to arms, nor a farewell to arms(Hemingway jokes are really funny), but merely a question of random acts of kindness.
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