Kindness is contagious

By Sheryl Jedlinski

A woman I’d never seen before went out of her way to come up to me at a retail nursery, stop me, and say, “I just want to tell you what a beautiful woman you are.”

A bit taken aback, I said nothing, waiting to hear where the conversation was going. Then the woman told me she was a breast cancer survivor, and asked if I was, too.

“Endometrial cancer, second time around,” I confided in her.

The woman smiled knowingly at my floppy Tilly hat. A member of the same “club,” she knew I was wearing it not for its stylishness, but to hide baldness caused by chemotherapy. She wanted me to know that cancer cannot steal the essence of who we are unless we allow it to.

When I turned to thank the woman for her kindness, she was gone. I found myself alone in the  store with tears streaming down my face and the memory of a surprise encounter I will not soon forget.

Never before has a total stranger bestowed a random act of kindness on me, having no idea of what I may have been struggling with or the impact her words might have on me. At that moment, I decided to be someone who makes others feel as special as this woman had made me feel. “Kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give” (Unknown) and the world can never have enough of.