A single act of kindness throws out
roots in all directions,
and the roots spring up and
make new trees.
~Amelia Earhart
People watching is something everyone ought to be required to do at least once in their lives. We all watch people but very few actually people watch. What is the difference? Watching people is something we do naturally. As we stroll through our day and we notice someone doing something out of the ordinary, something we consider bizarre, we watch them. We casually stare in their direction, judge their actions and move on.
People watching is much different. It is when you decide to sit quietly and observe the actions of those around you. It is taking note of what someone is doing, and how it has affected someone else. In the best case scenario you will observe someone doing something so touching and positive that it will change someone in the most spiritual sense. People watching can be something so small to you yet be so rewarding to someone else. Someone else's actions can easily influence the outcome of someone else's day.
I am reminded of an angel in heaven who while still on earth spread joy to others with such a fun small gesture she called warm fuzzies. A letter, a phone call, a bag with cocoa and candy in it, each one given to a specific person she knew that needed a lift in their day. I've recently seen in the news about young adults leaving post-it notes with encouraging words on them to strangers throughout their day. In my own apartment building we have someone who has been leaving small potted plants in front of the doors of others that live in the same building with a note that simply says "life is beautiful".
My wife and I recently met in a small diner in the back bay of Boston for lunch. A very elderly couple walked in and was seated at the table next to ours. The old man helped his wife take her coat off and pulled her chair out for her then sat down. The waitress took their order and the elderly couple sat across from each silently as they waited for their coffee to arrive. They drank their hot coffee in silence, even as the little diner's guests enjoyed the conversation of those they dinned with.
I tried to guess at the life they lived together. Clearly they had been together for years by the looks of the faded wedding bands each of them wore. I thought they looked tired, tired from a life of many years they have walked their journey. Surely they are retired from whatever careers they had chosen for themselves so many years ago. Even their shoes were dusty and had worn out wrinkles that ran cross the tops of them. I didn't know whether to feel that their life had been good to them, or bad to them but one thing I was sure of, they were good to each other.
I looked beyond their table to the table next to them that was occupied with a family of four. A young businessman, a young mother and what appeared to be their two children. I guessed their ages to be four and six or close to that. Their food had just been delivered to them and just seconds later the elderly couples meal had arrived. My attention went back to the elderly couple when I noticed with no words spoken they reached across their table and held hands. They bowed their heads in silence and appeared to be giving thanks for the bounty they were about to receive. Not a word spoken, just actions that made you believe they had practiced this their entire life together as they sat down to eat and give thanks for the blessings in their lives.
Beyond their table I saw the younger of the two boys watching this couple. When he whispered something to his parents and then they all took each others hands and the father lead them in a small prayer of thanks for the meal they were about to consume, I knew. I knew that what that little boy was doing was more then watching people, he was people watching. I knew that elderly couple who was just simply going about their day, business as usual, made an impression on the young boy observing them. The smile on his face after their family prayer was as big as his heart could hold.
When the waitress of the young family brought their ticket to them the young man said a few words, handed her his card and away she went. She came back and thanked them for their business, wished them a great day and they went about their way. A few minutes later the elderly couple asked for their ticket and were told that the little family next to them picked up their tab. The old man went behind his wife, pulled her chair back and helped her up. He helped her put her coat on and they made their way to the counter. I thought how nice of them to stop and leave a tip for the waitress who certainly was already tipped by the young family.
My wife and I had finished our lunch and asked the waitress for our ticket. "The elderly couple next to you picked up your ticket for you." We looked at each other and thanked the waitress. We stopped at the counter and paid for the three college kids who sat behind us, to pay it forward. Random acts of kindness, all of them the result of an old man and his little wife who stopped to give thanks to God for the meal they were about to consume. Had that young boy not been people watching and caught a glimpse of the occupants of the table next to him, those random acts of kindness would have had to wait for another day.
Lives lived. Lives changed. Lives enriched.
