Day 151: Can I Help You With That?

Happy Friday!

I took a trip to Home Depot today.  While I was taking my cart out to the parking lot I noticed an older lady trying to load some big boxes into her car.  It was painful just watching her so I decided to go up and help her load her car.  When I asked her if she needed help you should have seen the relief on her face.  She then told me she had been trying to fit everything in her car for the last 15 minutes.  I was happy I asked her if I could help when I did because who knows how long she would have been trying to put the boxes in her car.

Day 150: Inconsiderate People Suck

I mentioned in my post two days ago that traveling brings forth a lot of opportunities to help as long as you are aware.  What I have found it also does is it brings forth a lot of opportunities to be inconsiderate as well.  I'm not always sure if people are deliberately being rude or they are just so wrapped up in what they are doing they don't know what is going on around them...either way it annoys me.

Today when I got to the gate for my first flight I realized the plane was going to be a full one because there were so many people at the gate.  I went around looking for a seat because I still had about 30 minutes before boarding.  It was tough finding it seat but I eventually found one.  What I also found was a guy laying on an entire row of seats (5 in total). Now this wouldn't bother me if there were a lot of seats open however in this case there were people standing because they couldn't find seats at the gate.  I watched for a few minutes to see if the guy would move and for a second I thought he was going to, but instead he looked around, stretched and went back to laying on the five seats. Something about witnessing people being inconsiderate like this really gets to me.  I almost get anxiety over being around it.  So today, for my act of kindness, I went over to the guy and politely asked him to sit up so other people could sit.  He seemed pretty annoyed that I had asked him to sit up and mumbled something incoherent but he eventually sat up. Right away four people came and sat around him. While boarding the flight I had three people come up  and thank me for saying something.  Thankfully this guy did not have the seat next to me for the flight.  That would have been awkward.

Day 149: Helping my Elders

Even though she would probably disagree, I consider my grandma a pretty savvy person when it comes to technology. She has her own iPad that she takes everywhere.  I don't know too many grandmas who are caring around iPads.  However, there are some things that she still needs help with.  Last time I saw her she asked if I could help her order some bed sheets online.  I know this would be a pretty difficult and potentially confusing thing to do. So today, for my act of kindness, that is what I did.  I ordered my grandma sheets online. I know this isn't a huge act of kindness, but anytime I can help my grandma with something it make me feel good.  So this time I decided to write about it.

Day 148: Traveling Brings Opportunities

I have found that when traveling it is very easy to find opportunities to help people.  The only thing is you need to be aware and looking for the opportunities when traveling.  I sometimes am so focused on what I am doing and where I need to be that I get tunnel vision and miss opportunities to help. Today's act is very similar to one I did earlier in the year.  When I was boarding my flight today, I was lucky enough to have an open seat next to me. Being that I was on a 3.5 hour flight...this was going to be very helpful.  Then I noticed a mom and her 1 year old crammed in a seat across the aisle. I figured she would appreciate the extra room more than I would so, today for my act of kindness, I offered up my seat to her.  She couldn't thank me enough and this made me feel really good.

Day 147: Memorial Day

I know I take for granted sometimes the sacrifices members of our armed forces make each and every day. Freedom is definitely not free and unfortunately sometimes the ultimate sacrifice is paid. That is why Memorial Day is such a great day.  It is a day that we pay tribute to all of our armed forces.  Especially to the ones that lost their lives for our freedom.  So today, for my act of kindness, my wife and I participated in the national moment of silence at 3pm.  My daughter, who is one, also participated in her own way.  While Gina and I were having a moment of silence my daughter decided to play with one of her toys. Ironically the button she pushed played the song "Yankee Doodle."  It was perfectly timed on her part.

Day 145 and 146: Best Man Duties

Jonny P and Me

The next couple of days are going to be centered around my best friend's wedding.  I was lucky enough to be named the best man so it's safe to say over the next two days that there will be plenty of acts of kindness going on.  What is not safe to say is how much time I would have to write about them.  That is why I am writing about what I am going to be doing as opposed to what I have done.  I will come back on the post on Monday and list out the acts of kindness that were performed for both today and tomorrow.  Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Day 144: A Little Help for the Homeless

Ever since I was a little kid I have been a sucker for the candy and food at the cash registers of stores. I used to bug my mom to buy me something every time we were in line.  Today I went to Home Depot and couldn't help myself when I went to checkout.  The sour cream and cheddar chips were calling my name.  On my way home right before I was about to open the bag I saw a homeless guy on the corner with a sign that said "hungry...anything will help." So today, for my act of kindness, I gave my bag of chips to a homeless guy.