Random acts of Canadian kindness
Might as well help out my neighbor while I’m at it.
You may have heard the expression, “There’s nice, and then there’s Canadian nice.” And sometimes, Canadian nice is so nice it makes headlines. My stories are much more mundane, but in my short time living here, I’ve already experienced a few “Canadian nice” moments.
One morning I popped into a busy cafe, my hands full with bags. I ordered a coffee and a small pastry. I collected my order and, as I was carrying it back to my table (the coffee in one hand, the pastry plate in the other), the napkin fell off the plate onto the floor. As my hands were full, I continued to the table to put down my bags and coffee, intending to go back and pick up the napkin and put it in the trash. Except, when I got back to the counter a moment later, another woman (a customer, not someone working there) had already picked it up and was throwing it away. A stranger picked up my trash. In less than 60 seconds. Out of the kindness of her heart.
Another day, I went to pick my daughter up at camp after a rainy day. We bike to and from camp each day, and her bike remains parked outside at the bike rack while she is at camp. When we went to unlock her bike, we saw that someone had tied a black plastic trash bag over her bike seat to keep it dry in the rain. Presumably it was put there by the person whose bike was parked next to hers, who maybe decided to rainproof everyone’s bike seats while they were at it.
In my apartment building, people are very neighborly and kind, and do things like bring people’s packages inside to prevent theft. But, there is some element here of looking out for each other, because if I bring my neighbors’ packages inside, they might bring mine inside next time (what goes around comes around).
What is striking to me about the two examples I shared above - at the cafe and bike rack - is that these random acts of kindness are bestowed upon complete strangers, in situations where there may not even be any contact to allow for an expression of appreciation, less reciprocity. It is kindness for kindness sake. More observations on this to follow.
