Life Lessons: Relentless Actions and Random Acts of Kindness
Every month I try to make it a goal to perform a random act of kindness. Sometimes, seemingly small actions can make a big impact on another person’s life. This month my sister and I were at sibling’s weekend at my college. I go to Michigan State University and all of the events were in a building called the MSU Union. We had a good night: we made slime, watched a comedian, and got photo booth pictures. The last event was to get balloon animals. We talked about what animals we wanted and decided as we got in line. The person making the balloon animals came over and gave a lady behind us a sign saying she was the last one in line. He was running out of supplies and it was the end of the event, so everyone after the lady with the sign wouldn’t be able to get balloon animals. He gave everyone in line a card saying it was good for one animal, this way he could keep track of who was in line.
While standing in line waiting for the man to make balloon animals, a woman came up with her two kids. The lady at the end of the line explained that she was the last one and he wasn’t going to make anymore. The woman who had come up to the line started to walk away with her kids, but my sister and I decided together to give the kids our two cards, so they could have the balloon animals instead of us.
The woman and kids were happy and thankful, they got in line soon after we left.
My sister and I always try to do things like this. Instead of getting balloon animals, we decided to paint picture frames. My sister was still just as happy as she would have been if we got balloon animals.
Every time my sister and I perform an act of kindness, it’s an inspirational and educational experience. Considering this one specific example with the balloon animals, we realized those kids deserve the balloon animals just as much as we did, but they were probably even more thrilled to get them. I think that it is important for my sister and me to learn: how to give up something to make someone else better off. I encourage everyone to do one relentless action each month. My sister and I are thankful that we can make a positive impact in other people’s lives, just simply by being kind.
About the author
Cassandra Lawton
Cassandra grew up in Muskegon MI, and went to Reeths-Puffer schools. She went to Muskegon Community college while still in High school through a program called EarlyCollege. She graduated with her High school diploma and her associates at the same time because of the program. She is now a Human Development Major at Michigan State University. Cassandra plans on graduating in Summer of 2018 with a bachelor’s degree and then applying to the Master’s in Social work program at MSU. Her hope is to become a Marriage and FamilyTherapist someday and give back to her community.
Cassandra’s interests include studying other cultures, writing novels, and learning about people. She will be studying abroad this summer in Japan, and she hopes to completely immerse herself into the culture by living in a host family and taking Japanese language classes.
