The Village Smith

I picked the week of a trip to launch this little experiment of mine. Nothing like the planes, trains, automobiles of getting to and from to bring out kindness towards others. It is not easy to be kind when being shoved through security at 5 AM, let me tell ya.

But I do have to say, I did see other people's kindness in all my travel annoyance. Two people gave up seats on a full tram to allow a mom and baby to sit down. An ancient man had the entire line at the pastry cart cracking up about his choice of doughnut and was beyond polite to the cashiers. A good smile and warm heart was had by all.

My new found focus on kindness gave me a solid 26 hour bump on the kindness scale. However, a busy work week with many competing interest pushed my new-found virtue off stage. Sigh. Maybe next week...


In all this hustle and bustle, I was reminded of a very kind person in my life. My mechanic. You see, I drive a 2004 honda civic (that I no longer love) named Slick. This wonderful mechanic takes such good care of Slick that he is never going to die. But The Village Smith, as he calls himself, is much more than a regular ole mechanic. He is off-the-charts kind when you interact with him. My most recent interaction with The Village Smith went something like this.


          Me: Hi Village Smith (VS), this is Michelle calling. You take care of my honda civic.


         VS: I sure do, Michelle, and I'm so blessed to be able to do that. Thanks for calling me today.


I am so stunned at his sincerity and kindness that I almost forgot why I called (some wheel-barring something something). Anyway, that conversation stayed with me all day.  It wasn't lip service; VS really did feel blessed to work on my car.

I'm sure at some point in my life & relationships, I've said something as kind to someone. But I know I don't do it every day, to any random person that crosses my path.

Do you? If so, how do you make sure to dole out kindness on the passers-by in your life?


This kindness thing is definitely harder than I thought...