Good Deeds 9 and 10

So to begin, here's a confession (no it's not that I've missed a day). As I said earlier, I made this resolution years ago and stuck with it, not every single day but at least 90% of the days. This time around it's much more difficult. I can see two reasons for this: one, it is much easier to find ways to be nice when you re a student at university with a part-time job, and have no choice but to be out interacting with people all day, and two, I think niceness has become a little less ingrained in me, because let's face it, as people get older they tend to get more rigid and selfish. I am not saying I am selfish; I try to be selfless and generous almost every moment of my life. But with two kids and a  house to take care of, it's much easier now to become caught up in my own life and focus less on going out of my way for others. That makes me more determined to follow this through though, because I don't want to become self-centred or bitter as I get older (and older, sigh).

Now that I have had my completely honest moment and possibly been judged by better people than I, here are my good deeds for yesterday and today. Yesterday I got off the bus for an elderly man with a walker. The areas for strollers and people with disabilities was full when he got on, and he needed public transit a lot more than I did. I only took the stroller yesterday because it was so icy that I didn't want my toddler to fall and hurt himself, but I have big fancy boots that help a bit, and the stroller also kept me upright when I slipped. So I got off the bus and walked (as fast as I could), the twelve city blocks to the bus terminal so he could have my spot. With forty minutes between buses it was imperative that I made it in 8 minutes, but even more important that the elderly man could ride the bus instead of walking himself or waiting in the cold. When I was breathing normally again, I felt quite proud of myself. His reaction? Well, I think he was a bit senile (is there a more politically correct term? Sorry if that's not it), but the bus driver was surprised. I brushed it off by saying I didn't have that far to go, which I didn't, I just had to get there quickly.

My good deed today was to donate two dollars to the resource centre for families. They provide coffee for parents (a wonderful policy) and have a donation jar that you don't have to contribute to unless you want to. I even had a volunteer tell me it really is free coffee, but I put in money anyway. He was surprised but grateful, and I enjoyed the coffee.

The surprised reactions from yesterday and today remind me once again that people do not expect kindness from others. Even worse, people are not very accustomed to seeing others do nice things. So it's extremely important to make  the effort.