I just finished watching an online video of a gentleman who bought a car for a middle-aged woman working at McDonalds. It was beautiful. To give you some background on the story, this guy frequents McDonalds for breakfast every day and struck up a friendship with this worker. She had been driving to work in a bomb of a car for a few years and it had finally stopped working. She had to rely on the kindness of friends and family to get her to work each day. Seeing her plight and the fact that she had no money to purchase a new car for herself, this gentleman decided to buy one for her.
The scene is stunning as his son films the event on his phone and he requests that she come outside during her break. He points out a new black car in the parking lot and says to her, “These keys I’m holding, they belong to that vehicle and that vehicle now belongs to you”. BOOM! The tears start flowing from everywhere, she is crying, he is crying, I am crying. He has just made a world of difference to this McDonalds worker and she just cannot comprehend the kindness that this man has shown her.
This man has certainly set the bar for kindness, especially since in western society we like to hold onto our money with a death grip. But we don’t need to start purchasing cars for individuals to start showing kindness, this man had it on his heart that there was someone in need and he wanted to meet that need.
The simplicity of kindness
Showing kindness and doing kind things is actually quite simple and it will not take too much effort. Most people are fighting an unseen battle, it is easier to see that once you get to know someone, but we come across strangers everyday who will be silently suffering some tragedy or predicament and all it may take to pull them out of their suffering is a kind word or a small gesture. Buying a car is a big deal, but the man in the story above had come to know this workers situation and knew he had the means to make a big difference in her life. However; most situations can be met with small but powerful actions. For example, paying for the person behind you inline when you are buying a coffee, sitting down with a war veteran and hearing their story, mowing your neighbour’s lawn because you know they have a new baby, greeting every person you meet with a smile, cooking a meal for a sick friend or family member.
The challenge of kindness
What if someone is your enemy? What if someone has wronged you? What if you literally come across a criminal who has done unspeakable things and they are hungry? Without shelter? Without clothing? Man oh man, this is where our faith as Christians really gets put into action, where we are really tested. Will we walk the walk or are we all just talk?
You see it is very simple to show kindness to people that we like, complete strangers that we have no prior connection to or to show kindness when it actually does not cost us a thing. It is a monumental challenge for us to love thy neighbour, when we are angry at them or if our neighbour is a thief, a murderer, a paedophile, a rapist or sometimes if there is no possible gain for us. As a parent I am challenged by the fact that I should show love and kindness to a paedophile, as a lover of history I am challenged by the fact that I should show love and kindness to Nazi’s after the atrocities that were brought upon the Jewish people in the World Wars, as a voter I am challenged by the fact I should show kindness and respect to politicians who don’t necessarily have my countries best interest at heart.
All of a sudden showing kindness isn’t as simple as it is made out to be. We are living in a world where people are becoming increasingly hostile toward each other because we support different sports teams, listen to different music, wear different clothing, eat differently, vote differently, believe in something different to eachother. We humans take offence too easily and we give offence too easily.
Time to do things differently
Jesus said in Luke chapter 6, verse 27 to 28“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
What an incredibly challenging passage of scripture. Seemingly, all we want to do is war with each other, take revenge and look out for number 1. Imagine even if the Christians reading this article decided to live by these words consistently, what a difference it would make in our local communities. The challenge is for all humans to live by these words, not just Christians. What a different world we might live in, if we all decided to show a little kindness.
Jarred is an HPE and Mathematics teacher on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, he is married to Haley and has three beautiful children Chelsea, Nathan and Ryan.
Jarred is an HPE and Mathematics teacher on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, he is married to Haley and has three beautiful children Chelsea, Nathan and Ryan.
