海角大神

It was an oppressive, pitiless July day, when Barbara Mack saw a man who was homeless, red-faced and limp, on her way into a central Florida convenience store. She asked if he was OK. 鈥淛ust resting,鈥� he replied.

Ms. Mack went inside, grabbed two bottles of water, called out to the cashier that she鈥檇 be right back, and gave a bottle to the man outside. But when Ms. Mack returned, a woman in the long line gave her an earful about wasting her money and 鈥渆nabling that homeless person.鈥�

Ms. Mack admits that she lost it. She shouted (among other things) that 鈥渋f she had an ounce of compassion in her whole body, she鈥檇 buy him a cold drink, too,鈥� wrote Ms. Mack in her July 21 Facebook post.

After her rant, the store was stone silent. Then, the man at the front of the line asked the cashier to add a sandwich to his purchases for 鈥渢he guy outside.鈥� One by one, everyone in line (except the scolding woman) bought something for him. 鈥淲hen I went outside, he was eating his ice cream and drinking his water with a pile of stuff all around him, a big old grin on his face,鈥� Ms. Mack wrote. Her Facebook post has been shared 140,000 times.聽

I reached out to Ms. Mack, but she declined to be interviewed. She did聽 Still, even if her story can鈥檛 be fully verified, research shows that a simple act of聽kindness can be a powerful catalyst. It reminds us of what generosity looks like, and of how we want to be but sometimes forget because we鈥檙e tired, rushed, and hot.聽

Thanks for the reminder, Barbara Mack.聽