One night this week, my grandson and I were rushing out of the store.

We were on our way to his orchestra concert, and we had a bit of last-minute shopping to do.

The slim bit of time after school and before the concert was our only opening.

I knew he was hungry because I picked him up straight from wrestling practice. He said he wasn’t hungry, but I’ve yet to meet a teenage boy who’s not hungry 24 hours a day.

While I was checking out, I told him to go over to the pizza counter near the check-out lane. He could pick up a small, already baked pizza while I paid for our items. A lady was in front of him, and she got the last two pizzas.

He looked disappointed.

“It’ll be about 20 minutes,” my grandson said. We didn’t have that much time, so we left. I hoped there would be snacks for sale at the concert that could hold him over until he got home.

As we were walking to our car, the lady who’d been in front of my grandson in the pizza line hurried up to us.

“I want you to have these pizzas,” she said, trying to hand a plastic bag to me.

“Oh, I couldn’t take those – they’re yours,” I said, pulling back a bit.

She leaned closer and thrust the bag forward.

“God was telling me to pass on some kindness this evening,” she said with a gentle smile. “I don’t need this pizza but I think your grandson could use it. Please take it.”

Speechless, I took the bag, but quickly regained my voice.

“This is so kind of you,” I said, reaching into my purse. “Please let me pay you for them.”

She backed away.

“I couldn’t take money because this is a God thing,” she said. “Taking any money would be wrong. We’re called to pass on goodness in this world. I’m just answering that call.”

And with that, she turned and sprinted away.

My grandson and I just stood there, looking at each other, not believing what had just happened. When we got in the car, my grandson dove into the pizza. The lady was right – he’d been hungry.

We couldn’t stop talking about this random act of kindness given by a stranger. She didn’t know us, we were a different race, and she asked for nothing in return.

Cynics might have thought something was wrong with the food, but that thought never crossed our mind. All we thought about was how generous this nice lady was to two strangers.

Her kindness made us realize we should perform small kindnesses more often. She made our day more than she could possibly know, because we needed more than two individual pan pizzas that night.

We needed to know that there are people out there who care.

We needed to know there are people who notice when someone else is in need.

We needed to remember there are people who make the decision to think of someone else before themselves.

We needed to remember there are people who will give what they have so others won’t go hungry.

And, most of all, we needed to remember there are people who can restore our faith in humanity by a simple act of kindness.

Thank you, kind and generous stranger, for restoring our faith in people. That’s the best Christmas gift we could hope to receive.

 

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald