Extreme Kindness

A beautiful thing happened the other day.

On Sunday, I spent some QT with my cousin Lauren at the mall — she was cruising the perfume counters looking for the perfect eau-de-something. Between sneezing fits brought on by huffing vapors and coffee beans, we witnessed a heart-wrenching random act of kindness.

A group of ladies approached the counter and gave one of the female clerks a book. The women passing on the gift didn’t linger, but just said some nice words and thanked the clerk for helping them and sharing her story.

Always full of curiosity, I leaned forward over the counter and said with a smile, “that was nice, what’s the book?” The clerk was stunned but managed to show me the cover. I forget the exact title, but it was roughly Getting Over The Death Of A Loved-One. My smiling face turned to a blank stare; I didn’t know what to say.

A confused smile fluttered momentarily on the clerk’s face. She opened a drawer, removed a tissue and started to cry. “That was so sweet,” was all she said behind modest tears.

It felt like someone had cranked the heat in the room or just cranked the heat in me. I walked around the counter and just gave her a big, long hug.

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