The Chain of Kindness!

July 19, 2012 

 

Today, I boarded an Amtrak train in Washington, DC en route to New Haven, CT.  I found a seat in a rather empty section to the rear of the first car I entered.  I went from Washington to New York City with an empty seat next to me and plenty of empty seats all around.  Then the train arrived in New York City and a flood of passengers began boarding, quickly filling all those empty seats.  A young couple boarded and the only seats left in my car were the one next to me and one on the opposite side, one row ahead.  What does one do in that situation?  Pretend you're sleeping and avoid thinking about their situation?  Give a quick smile to whichever one takes the seat next to you and return to your own relaxed world?  A bunch of possible scenarios entered my mind within a matter of seconds, including this one:

 

I am going to have a stranger sitting next to me from New York City to New Haven, no matter what.  The guy at the window one row up is going to have a stranger next to him from New York City to New Haven and beyond, no matter what.  If the young couple takes the only two available seats, then they will also be sitting next to strangers from New York City to New Haven and beyond.  With a quick bit of math, done completely in my head, I realized I had the power to reduce the number of people sitting next to strangers from four down to only two.  Thinking how I'd react if I were in the shoes of the young couple, I offered my seat so that they could sit together and I took the empty seat next to the stranger one row ahead.

 

Now, I'm thinking, I am a human being who just did something nice for two people.  So, what should I get in return for my good deed?  Well, as soon as I changed seats, I got to experience the feeling you get when you do something nice for people you don't even know.  That was more than enough payback for me.  I then began to think, what happens if one person from that young couple, traveling alone at some point in the future, should find him or herself in the same position I was in such that a pair of individuals traveling together (e.g. another young couple, a parent with a child, an old couple, etc.) is faced with having to sit apart.  Perhaps that person will reflect back on the kind gesture I made today and do the same thing for the new pair.

 

Do two people traveling together on a train need to sit right next to one another?  No.  Would it make their trip more enjoyable?  I hope so.  If not, then why are they traveling together in the first place?  Taking my gesture of kindness and passing it along to someone else in need is the absolute best return I could get for my good deed.  It isn't necessary for the young couple to repay the favor directly to me right then and there.  Heck, if it continues to get passed from person to person, eventually my return on investment will be that I am the recipient of a future good deed by someone who was linked to my original good deed.  It's funny how life can work if we all consider points of view outside of our own!