theCynch

Why don’t we see more random acts of kindness?

I know the typical excuses: “gotta get somewhere,” “too busy,” “don’t want to get involved,” “not my problem,” “someone else will help,” “they might be weirdos.”

I’m thankful that not everyone has this type of attitude, or else an incident this Saturday would have been much worse.

My car broke down in the middle of an intersection on Saturday and my SUV was immediately surrounded by three or four cars that were filled with willing, and helpful people.

The guys in the sedan behind me jumped out of their car and helped push my truck out of oncoming traffic.

A bigger SUV parked in front of me, then offered to tow me to a safe place.

A van came alongside of my car and helped divert traffic.

Sure, a few cars honked rudely (as if I wanted to be stuck in the middle of an intersection….), but my panic was quickly eased by how kind and helpful these strangers were.

The SUV in front of me happened to have some tow rope, so the driver hooked up my SUV and drove me about a mile away to large, safe parking lot. I made sure to hug him, though it was not much compensation for the favor.

The guys in the sedan had followed my car the whole way, just to make sure I arrived safely.

My chest thrummed from the goodwill.

After this incident, I realize how much I don’t see random acts of kindness. Is it really so difficult to help someone out for ten minutes? A slight inconvenience to you can make a world of difference to the person that you help.

And I swear, they will never forget you.

Though I realize that I live in a large metropolis and random acts of kindness are few and far between, the incident gave me a bit more faith in humanity—something I shared with the tow-truck driver when he picked me and my SUV up.

I hope that someday people will realize that in many ways, we are all connected, and the connections are only growing stronger. As technology and social media decrease the degrees of separation, we will only be held more responsible for our actions.

Feeling more connected with society makes people feel more responsible for what they do and how they behave. If we can stress the importance of both online and real-life connections, we can improve society as a whole and learn to become more “human.”

In the near future, perhaps I’ll be able to identify the rude drivers immediately and be able to leave an appropriately-worded comment on their profile, or properly thank the people that helped me. We’re almost there, just not quite yet.

Does anyone find see irony in becoming more “human” through technology?