Since Hurricane Milton, we have had so many people knocking on our door, trying to sell us a new roof.
I literally had six people in a single day, and I’m not even kidding.
There is no way these people are here to help me and give me a reasonable rate. They are here for one reason only: to seize the opportunity to benefit from another person’s misfortune.
If there’s one thing about natural disasters that you can always count on, it’s the people who prey on those who are left in desperate situations.
So, when I see something positive happen, I think it’s important to share it.
There are still good people out there.
As I was sitting in the Tampa Airport having breakfast, getting ready to board my flight, I witnessed the ultimate kindness.
The woman working behind the bar was telling us about the state of her house after Hurricane Milton.
Her house was badly damaged and completely flooded, with sewage water everywhere.
It was seriously a heartbreaking story.
She was currently living in a condo and only had three days left there. After that, she didn’t know where she was going to go.
After telling us her story, the couple sitting next to me literally took the key off their keychain, and handed it to her with a piece of paper that had their address on it.
They told her that they were going to be gone for a couple of weeks and that she was welcome to stay there while they were away.
They then told her that when they got back, if she still had no place to stay, she could stay with them for as long as she needed to.
It was such an amazing moment.
Without even flinching, this couple gave a stranger the key to their house and promised her a place to stay.
With this one magnanimous act, my faith in humanity was restored.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that happen before.
Obviously, this woman was so thankful that she was crying.
They talked for a bit, and then she went to serve some other customers.
When she came back, they said, “Oh, by the way, honey, what’s your name?”
They didn’t even know her name, but they were willing to give her the key to their home to help ease her suffering.
This experience was so powerful for me.
We need to hear more of these kinds of stories.
We can learn so much from others.
As I think about the couple and how they just offered their home up without even thinking twice about it, I am amazed by them.
It takes a very special kind of person to do what they did.
It makes me think about what I would do in that same situation.
I may not have a home to lend, but there are still things that I can learn from the actions of these people.
I think most of us would have looked at the situation from an entirely different lens.
We would have thought to ourselves, “If I let someone live in my house, it could be a total disaster!”
But this couple didn’t even hesitate.
Let’s try to look at life through the lens of kindness.
If there’s anything we can learn from this couple, it’s to see the world through the eyes of kindness.
We don’t have to give away the key to our house. But there are still things we can do to help the people around us.
We can start by thinking about what we have to offer.
It can be simple things like holding the door open for someone, giving a compliment when you mean it, or buying a coffee for the person behind you in Starbucks.
There are so many little things we can do each day that can positively impact people on a larger scale.
Whatever you choose to do, remember that your kindness just might change a person’s life.
Start sharing the good.
A lot of times in crisis, we think about the worst things.
We see all of the bad things on the news, and we focus on those things—the devastation, the destruction, and even the loss of life.
But imagine what would happen if we started to focus on the good instead?
Imagine how lives would change if we started listening to the needs of others and doing what we could to help fill those needs.
Giving someone the key to your home is definitely an extreme example. I still can’t believe that I saw a couple give their house key to a complete stranger.
But it was so refreshing to see something so incredibly positive happen in the midst of such a destructive natural disaster.
It really makes me think about how I want to move forward.
I want to be more mindful of the little things I can do each day to help someone else—especially in disasters.
I want to be the good in the world.
We need more goodness in the world.
And we can choose to be that good.
We can choose to see the good things that are happening around us.
We can choose to share those good things when we see them.
And we can choose to do something every day that will positively affect the people we come in contact with—especially strangers.
There is so much good we can do.
So, let’s get out there and do it.
