Random Act of Kindness

I prejudged someone. I made an assumption about him based on nothing aside from how he looked.

I was at my local wine bar with a girlfriend. Hanging out, catching up, gossiping. At one point I noticed a little old lady walk in. She was alone. She went up to the bar and ordered some food. She sat and quietly ate her food. She caught my eye because she was so frail. And so small.

The rest of the bar? Filled with young people. A lot of gals. A few people out on dates. We saw a group of friends, guys and girls. One of the guys waved to my friend. I asked how she knew him. "Oh, he's another neighbor. I see him in here sometimes. He's kind of a surfer dude, I'm surprised he cut his hair, it use to be so long!"

I didn't pay much more attention to anyone else in the bar. We continued our conversation, whispering, giggling, drinking our bubbles.

I'm not really sure how it happened. But the next thing I know, the little lady was done. And she was getting off her stool, getting her bags together and heading out.

The 'surfer dude' immediately left his group of friends, and went over to her. He helped her gather her belongings, grabbed her bags for her, and held out his arm for her to hold onto. She grabbed on, and with very little dialogue, they walked out. He was walking her home.
I sat there in awe as I watched them out the window, walk slowly up the slightly inclined hill. They were moving at a turtle's pace, and he was hunched over, and you could tell he was talking to her.

I interrupted my friend as she was mid-sentence, and made her look out the window to see. "Oh yea. He's really nice. I've seen him walk her home before."

Amazing. Who does that anymore? I don't think I know very many people that would have done that. It took a mere 10 min for him to walk her home and get back to the bar to rejoin his friends. Sure, maybe he was trying to impress that girl in the group. But I don't think so. It seemed genuine. And he was doing it for no other reason than because she needed help.

It was an eye opening experience. A much needed reminder that genuinely good people are out there and to not judge a book by it's cover.