Full Circle
This happened to me many years ago, but I still feel “small acts of kindness” are not in vain. You never know how one small action can affect someone for good. Be the good you want to see in the world.”
I know I am not alone when it comes to kindness. I witness people everyday holding doors open for each other, letting them go ahead in the checkout lines, all sorts of little things. What may seem like a little thing can eventually have a big impact. Today a very small act of kindness I did many years ago came back, full circle. Not sharing to brag, just sharing in hopes that you will be inspired to help someone when you get the chance.
Back when the kids were in elementary school, I volunteered as much as I could. (I know I'm not the only person to ever volunteer...I have a great many friends who went above and beyond what I did. God bless volunteers!) When the Scholastic Book Fair would roll around, I LOVED helping with it. Loved helping set it up and working it. When I was a little girl, the book fair was IT for me. Reading was my thing. Books everywhere!! My dream come true. To have the opportunity to be on the "grown-up" end of it was quite satisfying. I got a kick out of all those kids coming in, oohing and aahhing over the books. They each had crumpled-up dollar bills in their hands ready to make a purchase. I was HAPPY to help them find their very own book.
With all the happiness around me, my heart would ache for the kids who didn't have any money...maybe their parents forgot or maybe they couldn't afford it. Whatever the reason, it always broke my heart. I could spot them...they'd just sort of hang off to the side, not really looking around because they probably didn't want to get excited about a boouk they knew they couldn't have. One little boy I remember just had a super sad look on his face. He was quiet and standing by himself. So I went over to him and asked if he needed help picking out a book. He quietly explained he didn't have any money. He was just going to stand and wait. OH.MY.HEART. Well, I was NOT going to have that little boy leave empty-handed. I just as quietly told him to go pick out a book and I would buy it for him. First he looked at me like I was kidding, but then when he realized I wasn't, his face lit up and away he went to find a book. A simple thing, I'm sure the book was probably no more than five dollars. It was just the right thing to do. He smiled and thanked me. I honestly will never forget the look on his face. I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Fast forward to about 20 minutes ago. Reece and three kids from his Speech class came over to shoot some scenes at our house for their final project. The last boy was going to be a little later than the others. Reece yelled down to me that Shane was coming, and mom, he went to Peters, you oughta remember him. He walks in the door and it was him! It was the boy from the book fair. Only now he's not a third grader, he's a senior in high school getting ready to graduate. He proceeds to tell me this..."Mrs. Dixon, you may not remember this, but you bought a book for me at the book fair at Peters when I was little. I didn't have any money, but you were kind enough to get me one. I just wanted to say thank you because that started my love for reading and it was the first book of my collection."
I was holding back tears. He gave me a huge hug and...well, now I'm crying while typing this. Forgive any typos because I can't see! After they all finished filming and left, Reece came downstairs and told me that Shane is really big into writing poetry and reading, and that he talks about the time when "your mom bought me a book when I didn't have any money to get my own."
I had the privilege today of meeting someone whose life I impacted by a tiny act of kindness many years ago.
Always do kind things when you have the chance. Always be kind to everyone. Don’t forgot, life has a funny way of coming around, full circle.
- Tammy Dixon