Long live random acts of kindness!

Last Friday, I had gone to the recycling center here, to recycle bottles, cans etc. There was a fairly long queue of people waiting to recycle their items. The person working there and doing the manual recycling was a young lady. Manual recycling means instead of using the slow recycling machine which accepts one item at a time, you put all your similar recyclable items in a bin, have the person weigh it and issue the refund based on the weight instead of actual per item refund deposit. She was working very hard and fast, lugging huge barrels in and out, non-stop. My turn came, I finished my recycling, got paid and returned home to get the next load of items to recycle. When I came back for the second time, I saw that the recycling center had been closed. But there were still some people lingering around. I asked if the young lady had closed the recycling center for good for that day. They said, No, she had cut herself while working, got a minor injury and had gone to the restroom to wash the wound and clean up. She would come back and reopen in a few minutes, they said. Fine, I said and continued to wait. The young woman came back, reopened and continued working as if nothing had happened. Felt for her. Considering her age, she should  probably be in school or college or at home enjoying life like other young people of her age. But here she was doing a hard job and doing it really well with lot of energy and enthusiasm. Now she had a minor injury as well. But nothing slowed her down.

There was this lady customer, in her mid fifties, who was recycling using one of the machines. Her very old mother was also there with her little dog, just hanging around, waiting for her daughter to complete their recycling.

The lady finished her recycling, submitted her receipts, got her money and left. She went to her car and came back. She came to the counter and left 'something' for the young woman who was manning the recycling center. I was right in the front to see what was that she gave. It was a very nice first aid kit!! The lady said, "I had an extra in the car. You can probably use it." The young lady who was then issuing my refund could only mutter,"Thank you, mam!" She was so engrossed in her duty. Only after issuing my refund, she took a minute to look at the nice first aid kit the stranger had left for her and marveled at the kit and more probably at the random act of kindness from a customer, a stranger.

Felt good to witness this act of random kindness first hand. Long live humanity. Long live random acts of kindness. Good Karma everywhere!