Smart phones allow us to capture everyday acts of kindness and share them with the world—a world that needs to be inspired with hope and reminded that everyone is worthy of love.
This video, captured on a busy subway car, shows a man engaged in conversation with a flower vendor, who is explaining the price of her roses, hoping for a sale. She is completely surprised when the stranger buys all of her flowers for $140—on one condition: that she give them all away for free.
What is most moving—and telling—about the video is not so much the stranger’s kindness, but the reaction of the flower vendor. She bursts into tears when she realizes what he’s done. While $140 may not seem like much to many people, it could have taken all day before this flower vendor came close to making that. But now, thanks to a random stranger, her flowers are all sold; her hard work is done for the day; a man she doesn’t know has eased her burden and given her a gift.
This short glimpse into an every day moment on a subway train teaches us the power of kindness, and is a testament to the difference one simple act of love can make in another’s life. Whether we are on the giving or receiving end of such acts, it’s a reminder of the words of St. Teresa of Avila:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
And today we celebrate...