Gesture of Kindness

I would like to share a kindness story written by Jen Drenth in Reader's Digest October 2009 issue.

About 18 months ago, my father was in hospital recovering from a major lung operation. My mother had recently passed away, and my father had taken the loss of his partner for 55 years very hard and had lost interest in life.

Trying to get him eat each day was quite a chore as he didn't want anything except ice cream.

One evening, to our surprise, he refused to eat the ice cream, so I placed it in a staffroom freezer. A little while later, my son decided he wanted it, so I fetched it to him.

As I passed another ward, a woman asked, "Are there more where that came from?" When I explained the situation, she apologised. She then said that she had cancer and could eat very little, other than the occasional ice cream.

The next evening, I decided to buy two ice creams. On the way to Dad's room, I stopped in at the sick woman's room, and offered her the ice cream I'd bought for her. She was totally stunt that I had thought of her, and accepted the gifts with tears in her eyes. I spoke with her for a few minutes, explaining what was happening in my family and listened to her similar story of pain and suffering. It was apparent that she did not have many visitors, and the ice cream and short chat meant a great deal to her.

I repeated the gesture a few days later, and this time was rewarded with a huge hug.

I never even thought to ask her name, and never saw her again, but it made me realise that an act of kindness can be more rewarding when you give it, rather than receive it.

Here, I wish to quote Dr. Aidh Bin Abdullah Al-Qarni from his best seller "La Tahzan"

Don't expect a thank you wish from others as the reward from Allah is more rewarding and don't be upset when someone unknown offers gesture of kindness.