The Beginning

A couple of years ago I was standing in line at a grocery store behind a mom and her two children - one boy and one girl. The boy must have been around 10 while the girl appeared to be a couple of years older.

As the family was checking out the young boy asked his mom if she would buy him a candy bar. The mom informed the boy that she had already paid - which she had done just seconds before - and that he would have to do without the sugar rush for the night. She wasn't opposed to buying hom the candy bar, but did not want to check out again, or possibly keep me waiting to get this done.

Due to the fact that I had been a teacher of high school students for nearly 7 years at the time of this incident, I prepared myself for what was about to come next. And, since I have two young children of my own, I had a pretty good idea of what the next few seconds would hold. I could picture the eye rolling, and hear the deep sighs, and maybe even some talking back. I had witnessed this scene play out too many times with my students and their parents when they didn't get what they wanted, when they wanted it.

I braced myself for the onslaught this mom was about to get. Her son looked right at her and said, "okay." No screaming, no fit, no eye rolls, no sighs. Just an "okay." Now there was certainly some disappointment in the young man's voice, but no malice. No sense of entitlement. No argument. He accepted the fact that he was not getting a candy bar, and he was ready to move on.

I have to say, I was impressed. So as the family was bagging its groceries, I added a candy bar to my things, paid, and tossed the chocolate Hershey bar to the kid. The boy looked at his mom, obviously confused, and they both said "thank you."

I have no idea who that young boy was, and it doesn't really matter. It felt good to do something for someone else, just because it seemed like the right thing to do. I was impressed by his attitude, and I thought he deserved to be recognized for that behavior and rewarded.

Recently I was thinking about the feeling I had after giving the boy the candy bar. I thought about how it might feel to make it a priority to do something nice for someone else every single day. And I thought about how it might change me to always be cognizant of how things I do - either on purpose, or by chance - affect other people.

So, in an effort to live out this ideal, I have embarked on a journey. One year. 365 days. 8,760 hours. All in the name of change.

I love this quote:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

That is to have succeeded.

This will be the basis for the changes that occur over the course of the next year. This blog is meant to chronicle the good deeds I intend to do - big and small, planned and spontaneous, affecting people I know and love and those I have never met - and to discuss how these acts change me. How doing good for others, can be good for all of us.

I invite you to join in and post comments on this blog about the good things you are doing for others, and how they affect you. I can't help but think that if everyone tried to think of others on a daily basis, that the world would no doubt be a kinder, better place.

The next 8,760 begins.