No, I'm not about to ask for all of you to send some money my way. This quick little post was inspired by a video from 'dan unda' (Australia). So Ashleigh is on a radio station, needing money for her and her family to get back home after flying out for her dad's funeral, but it's up to a random stranger (even the radio station don't know her), Kate, as to whether or not she gets it. Kate has been offered the five grand, but it's up to her to take it or to give it to Ashleigh. Easy choice right? Well here's where we learn that Kate has AU$8 to her name and despite her and her husband working almost 24/7 between the pair of them, they have been issued a cut-off notice for their electricity. Now here's the incredible part: she decides to give the money to Ashleigh. Everyone on the station agreed Kate needed it more, but she is in tears, saying she'll just keep going like she has been. She says that she's sorry to her family, but she wanted to give her kids a life lesson, rather than just a "quick win", and believes that if everyone tried to help each other out a little bit more, the world would be a much better place.
You'll be glad to know that, despite the show itself not being allowed to give Kate the money for legal reasons, the radio hosts decided to give her the five grand out of their own pocket. When I saw this video, I was amazed at just how selfless this woman was and I was so happy to see that the hosts chose to reward her for her incredible actions. At this point it emphasised something I've thought for a while, which is that kindness deserves to be rewarded.
It's a bit weird, we see kindness and/or volunteering and we sometimes choose not to give something in return, as if being kind back proves the original person had an alterior motive or that it removes the kindness of the original action. Even if either of these were true, why does it matter? We should want to promote the correct behaviour and sacrificing something, whether it's your time or AU$5000 in Kate's case, in order to help someone must surely count under the banner of "correct behaviour". Whether it's showering them in praise or showering them in chocolate (or five grand), knowing what you do is appreciated means a lot.
Although this title is "Kindness Deserves to be Rewarded", a big aim of this post is to remind you that there are good people in this world. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people seemingly made out of enormous piles of faeces just stuck together with their own grim juices (just hold onto that picture for a moment), but always try to remember that there are a helluva lot more that are made out of gold.
Happy voluntravelling,
The Voluntraveller
P.S. I couldn't get a decent screenshot of the video (which is linked in the first couple of lines), so here's a picture of my dad showing his 'kindness' giving me a wedgie last year.
