How to Help the World With a Beard and a Doughnut

It’s amazing to me how my life has changed by small acts of kindness.

I will often pick up my friend Darrell on the way to the Storyline office. A couple of weeks ago, we decided to take a detour to grab a dozen doughnuts when we passed a couple of ladies changing a flat tire. A man with a beard and a flannel shirt had stopped to help them. Any man with a beard is more than capable to change a flat tire, so we kept on driving toward our box of frosting-covered goodness.

As we were driving back to the office, we noticed the bearded man was still changing the tire. It had been nearly 25 minutes since seeing them the first time, so I assumed things weren’t going as smoothly as he planned.

“We should stop and give them some doughnuts,” I said to Darrell at the stoplight just beyond the stranded car.

We both hesitated. Although it would have been a kind gesture, we’d have to turn the car around, get out, approach these strangers … a little extra work.

*Photo by Kiran Foster, Creative Commons

But then we pushed passed our own apathy and decided to stop.

We flipped the car around, got out and I said, “Good morning! My friend and I were driving by on our way to the doughnut shop and thought you all might want one,” while opening up the box. I handed them each a napkin and asked them to pick one.

After a short pause, they reached in for the doughnuts with smiles emerging from their faces.

You see, I knew they were having a rough morning. It was Monday, just after 8am. Their week was already off to a tricky start. But a simple act of kindness changed their perspective completely. I can’t be certain, but I imagine they weren’t telling their peers later that day about the flat tire … they were talking about doughnuts.

We all have the ability to influence the people around us with intentional kindness. (Storyline Blog