An Act of Kindness Goes A Long Way

When we show kindness to others, we may not remember the act but the recipient of our kindness may remember it for life. Looking back on my life, there were a few acts of kindness that happened quite some time ago but I remembered them vividly till today.

I grew up in a not-so-well-to-do family so my parents had to watch the expenses so as not to over commit on unnecessary wants. Therefore, overseas holiday trips, dinning out were considered luxuries and rarities for my family. I can remember that for the first 25 years of my life, my parents have only brought me one country, Thailand, for holidays. During the same period, I have no memories of my parents bringing me to any nice restaurants to dine. However, I do have many fond memories of my kind Auntie, who was running her own F&B business, bringing me out with her family to dine at some really nice Chinese restaurants. Each meals sometimes add up to $100+ or $200+, which is quite a lot of money considering it was at a time almost 20 years ago. Till today, I am still very grateful for such acts of kindness and generosity by my Auntie.

I have another Uncle who is an equally generous and giving person. He lives in a nice Terraced house and would always invite my cousins and myself to his house to play his children during the school holidays when we were younger. I could vividly remembered those days because it was packed with fun activities throughout during our stay at his house. There were lots of yummy food during breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and the rest of the time was spent playing sports, computer games and watching movies with my cousins. It was comparable to spending the school holidays elsewhere in Disneyland. For that, I still very much appreciate all the kindness that my Uncle and his family have given me.

Another act of kindness which was memorable to me happened during my first tuition assignment when I was almost entering University. I remembered teaching an adorable primary school kid whose mom was really kind to offer me a bowl of soup (usually is ABC soup) after each tuition lesson. I had wanted to politely decline this offer so as not to impose on her but she would usually insisted that I finished the soup before I go. That act of kindness touched me because she is not related to me in any ways but still willing to offer something she thought was healthy and nutritious to me. I couldn't remember her name, her son's name or their faces, what subjects I taught but that act of kindness remained vividly in my mind.

Lastly, when I first started my undergraduate studies, I was really stressed up by the challenging modules but there was a friend of mine who was always willing to give me tuition for free and guide me along through that challenging phase. I dare say that without his guidance, I would have flunked my studies back then. Thereafter, I repaid his kindness by paying it forward, guiding my fellow peers and sharing my notes & mind-maps with them.

There are many more acts of kindness done to me by others but the above examples left deeper impression on me and I would always think about them once in a while.The marvel of a kindness act is that while it means nothing much to the giver, it means the world to the receiver.

If you look back on your life, there are bound to be acts of kindness that you appreciate deeply, be it from friends, family or even strangers. If we have been touched by these acts of random kindness before, it is time that we do acts of kindness on others that they can remember for life.