Man pays for the person behind him at drive-through, prevents suicide

Ontario's Pickering News has the same policy as many newspapers - they do not publish letters anonymously. Despite that policy, they ran this editorial in early November about an anonymous letter they received: 

The letter writer wrote about being in a bad place in July of this year, so bad in fact that they (I don’t know whether the author was a woman or man) intended to take their life. July 18 was going to be their last day.“I had planned to end it all at home in my own little ritual and explain my thoughts in a note for anyone who cares,” they wrote.
Prior to this final act, however, a trip to Tim Hortons was in order for a coffee and a muffin. While in the drive-thru at Kingston and Glendale in Pickering the lady at the window told them, “The nice man already paid for it and he said to have a great day.” She was referring to the man in the SUV in front of them.
“I wondered why someone would buy coffee for a stranger for no reason. Why me? Why today? If I was a religious sort I would take this as a sign. This random act of kindness was directed at me on this day for a purpose.”
Back at home, they began to sob uncontrollably.
“I decided at that moment to change my plans for the day and do something nice for someone. I ended up helping a neighbour take groceries out of her car and into the house.”
They explained every day since she has looked for ways to make someone’s life a little better, and, as a result, it has “enriched my life in more ways than I could’ve imagined.”A coffee and muffin saved a life that day, and although I don’t know who the person was who sent me that letter, I feel better for telling the story.
Random acts of kindness do so much more than you think.
“To the nice man in the SUV … thank you from the bottom of my heart, and know your kind gesture has truly saved a life,” they said. “On July 18, 2017, I not only had a great day, I had the greatest day!”

When that column appeared in the paper, Glen Oliver's wife pointed it out to him. She knew of his long-standing habit of paying for the person behind him at the drive-through, usually at that very same Tim Horton's. He later told reporters, “I was blown away, blown away — couldn’t believe it...You know for such a small thing, just a series of events that were set off from that point on … 
"It's exponential now, you know? Like such a small, insignificant thing to most people just turned out to be … the planets aligned for somebody."

Anonymous donor tracked down decades later - and a scholarship is founded in her name

Hilde Back knows the power of spreading kindness. As youngsters, she and her brothers had fled Nazi Germany for Sweden. Their parents perished in the camps. Hilde has never forgotten the warm welcome the children received as strangers in Sweden and the opportunities they were given to create a new life there.

She was teaching preschool several decades later when she heard about a program her school's administrator was starting. It would fund primary and secondary education for gifted children in Nairobi. Hilde jumped at the chance to give this opportunity to a stranger in a land she'd never visited. All she learned about the child was this: His name was Chris. He was 5 or 6 years old. His older sister wrote a few letters to Hilde, then those petered out. She kept up her contributions anyway.

Fast forward to 2002. The Swedish Ambassador in Nairobi contacted 80-year-old Hilde. The child she sponsored all those years ago wanted to meet his patron to say thank you. Chris Mburu had earned degrees from the University of Nairobi and Harvard Law School and worked for the United Nations as a Human Rights Advisor. The two met, and not surprisingly, they got along well.

Hilde and Chris have met a number of times since. A documentary about Hilde and Chris' story called A Small Act aired on HBO in 2010, and won awards at various film festivals.

In tribute to Hilde's kindness and to continue its spread, Mburu started a scholarship in her name. Hilde has flown to Kenya to visit Chris and to personally see the effect this fund has on the students it supports. To date, 673 scholarships have been awarded to sponsor education for children in Kenya. All because Hilde decided to pass it on.

An overwhelming Thank You for a street musician

Kasey McCurdy has passed through the Des Moines skywalk regularly for years. This takes him past a number of street musicians, including one whose booming voice and happy demeanor often caught McCurdy's attention.

One day, he stopped and asked the musician if he could film him with some new camera equipment he'd gotten. The musician, Randy Kong, agreed and McCurdy filmed him for several months. He followed Kong to a home where he'd been serenading a terminally ill person weekly for months. He learned that Kong used to play in shock metal bands and that now, Kong plays for the love of the music, positive uplifting music which reflects his upbeat attitude toward life. He is grateful for every dollar tossed into his open guitar case and interrupts his song to thank the generous passerby.

One day last fall, Kong was gone from his usual skywalk gig. When days passed and Kong did not return, McCurdy became concerned. He did some digging and learned Kong had suffered some serious medical problems and was hospitalized.

Last week, Kong was finally well enough to return to the skywalk he loves. McCurdy had a surprise for him. Via Facebook, he organized a Thank You event to support Kong and his music. Hundreds of people turned out at lunchtime on Friday to listen, applaud, and toss their donations into Kong's guitar case.

An uplifting tribute to someone who lifts the spirits of strangers.

What Best Buy employees noticed - and what they did about it

In the midst of the busy holiday season, employees at a Best Buy on Long Island noticed a pattern. One particular teenager stopped in the store every day to play the display model of the Nintendo Wii U.

Out of their own pockets, the staff got together the $300 needed to buy the game system for the young man. They presented the gift to him as an early Christmas gift, and captured the moment in this video. They also gave him a Super Smash Brothers game to go with it. The young man was stunned and practically speechless.

One of the employees then drove the teen home, where he shared the news with his delighted family. The following day, his parents brought him back to the store to again thank the employees for their kindness.

This Instagram post gives a bit more info about the story.

This $8 kindness reaped a $10,000 harvest

The man in front of Tracy Warshal at Aldi's had forgotten his wallet. He had a small order, just some fruit, so Tracy paid for it and wished him a Merry Christmas. It was a small gesture of kindness for Tracy, and she promptly forgot about it.

A couple weeks later, Tracy was contacted by administrators at her place of employment, Piedmont Cancer Network. An anonymous donor had gifted the foundation $10,000 in her name. Apparently, the beneficiary of Tracy's small kindness noticed her company T-shirt with her first name printed near the logo.

Now, those receiving cancer care at Piedmont will reap the benefits of Tracy's small seed of generosity. 

Empathy for the loser - a lesson from kids' sports

Celebrating after a win is easy and natural. The team crowds together for group hugs, pats one another on the back, all high energy and enthusiasm. The losers each stand alone, individuals feeling their individual defeat.

Typically the opposing teams then line up and walk past each other for the 'good game' hand slap. That's considered good sportsmanship.

But when we're celebrating, it's not easy to put ourself in the shoes of the loser. Showing empathy for the losers and offering them comfort is, well, unusual.

Empathy was clearly on display at the conclusion of this international Youth Soccer tournament. 

The winning team from Barcelona went above and beyond the expected line of polite hand slaps. These kids showed true empathy for the defeated Japanese team through genuine hugs and obviously encouraging words. Even through the language barrier, I bet the Japanese players knew exactly what was being expressed.

We adults have a lot to learn.

Sportmanship

These two young ladies trained for years, wishing, hoping, and working toward the goal of competing in the Rio Olympics. Both athletes made their country's team and earned a spot in the 5,000 meter final. 

More than halfway into the race, Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand and American Abbey D'Agostino got tangled up in the pack of runners. Both women fell to the track. When D'Agostino got up and realized that Hamblin was still on the ground, she faced a choice. She could literally get back in the running and continue to pursue the dream of finishing her race in the Olympics, or she could help her fallen competitor. D'Agostino chose the latter.

With both women up on their feet, the unthinkable happened. D'Agostino grabbed her knee in pain and pulled up. It was Hamblin's turn
to return the favor. She helped D'Agostino to her feet and saw to it that she would finish the race. 

Check out what Hamblin said about D'Agostino's kindness that day. Here's a video of an interview with both women afterward. 

In the final days of the Rio Olympics, the IOC awarded both athletes the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin medal. Also known as the International Fair Play Committee Award, this medal has only been awarded 17 times in Olympic history. A rare prize for moments of mutual kindness between competitors who quickly became friends.

An unbelievable honor

In one of my book give-aways last year, Ramisa the Authoress, a blogger from Australia, scored a copy of Risking Exposure. Lucky for me. She read it, loved it, and placed it on her Favorite Books of All Time list.
She blogged about my book, sponsored a give-away contest, and in general has been unbelievably supportive of my debut novel from half a world away.

In her most recent blog post, she reviewed and categorized some of her 2014 favorites. Risking Exposure figured twice into her list of Best in Books - books you 'pushed' the most to your friends, and books you found thought-provoking/ life-changing.

Whoa.Thank you, Ramisa.
As a writer, that's amazing. Humbling. An unbelievable honor.

If that weren't enough, she mentioned me again under the Looking Ahead category, listing my as yet unfinished, unnamed sequel as one of the books she is anticipating the most, hopefully in 2015.

I'm anticipating the book also. I know my story line, the characters and their interplay, where the story ends, etc. Even so, the process of the story revealing itself as I write is astonishing, confusing, exhilarating. It requires the delicate balance of my conscious mind's need for control and my muse's need for creative license.

I hope the result garnishes fans as loyal and enthusiastic as Ramisa and others who have encouraged me on this adventure.

A fan, an interview, and a giveaway!

I had the great honor of being approached by an enthusiastic reader from Australia - dare I say it - a fan! Since Risking Exposure is on her personal list of favorite books of all time, she asked for an interview and for my permission to offer a giveaway on her blog. Of course, I said yes to both :)

So here's her blog, the interview, and the opportunity for you to win one of two free e-books. Have fun!

I'm gonna get philosophical here...

This week marked two major anniversaries in US history - the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Unless you spent the week under a rock, you've been inundated with video clips and interviews, musings about how the event shaped the country, and speculation galore of how different our lives would be if the event never happened.

But this begs the question - aren't our lives shaped continually by millions of events which are outside our control? True, some are momentous ones, like the delivery of a speech which encapsulates a national mission or the murder of a young, charismatic leader. But I'll go out on a limb and say that as individuals, we should be more focused on the events and actions that are within our control. Small events sparked by our own choices may seem insignificant, but they shape our daily lives at least as much as huge national events.


On a daily basis, we can choose to engage in individual acts of generosity or stinginess, to behave in a way that is cruel or kind. We can offer the gift of friendship or we can turn our back on loneliness and need. We can lend or withhold encouragement and support, and we can speak our mind in the face of injustice or we can keep silent and allow injustice to reign unchecked.We're intelligent people; we understand how our behavior affects someone else and in turn influences their behavior ... and that it spreads from there like the proverbial ripples in a pond.

So my wish for all of us as we begin preparations for Thanksgiving is this: May we live well enough that one small act of ours might result in thankfulness in someone else. And may that person pay it forward and pass it on.

What's working ... and not

I have a pay-it-forward and pay-it-back philosophy, so the business end of marketing doesn't come naturally to me.

But I've been fortunate on several counts -
-I live in a geographic area where the local newspapers are quite willing to run homespun press releases and grant interviews to no-name self-published authors like me. The Times-Leader, Wyoming County Examiner, and Abington Journal all shared my excitement with their readership, and I am grateful for that publicity.

-My friend and fellow Dietrich Writers Group member Hildy Morgan dedicated most of her weekly column in Advance to my book a couple weeks ago. She is an unbelievably generous, kind soul.

-I've contacted my local Books a Million and Barnes & Noble chains to see about getting my book in their stores. I learned that they won't order copies for their shelves because the publisher is print-on-demand and won't accept unsold copies as returns. That means potential readers have to order it through Amazon or through the customer service desk at the BAM or B&N store. So much for seeing my book on their shelves.

-BUT, B&N has local author signing events a few times a year. I'm signed up to participate in one this Wednesday night at 6pm in Wilkes-Barre. I bring the books to sell and I benefit from the publicity they've created.

-Hildy's book club read Risking Exposure as their October selection. I've been asked to come to their meeting on the 12th as they discuss the book. An amazing opportunity for me.

-I've been invited to do a brief presentation and a full-day book signing at Fort Mifflin on the Delaware on December 7th during their WWII re-enactment weekend. I've never been part of something like that before either.

-I've been invited to do a feature presentation and book signing at the Dietrich on March 9th, talking about the process of taking my book from idea to finished product. I'm donating a number of books to the Dietrich for that event, and anyone who wishes to purchase a copy can do so there at the retail price. That way, the Dietrich benefits $8.99 for each copy sold, a small payback to a non-profit which has supported my writing efforts for several years.