The greatest part of life that has stood as my source of inspiration and being also a well of inspiration to others following my footage is the act of kindness. Through the act of showing me love by friends who genuinely understood what giving means have shaped me into being a giver more than a receiver. There was this part of me before I didn't see again and I attribute that self-improvement to the positive impact of others' acts of kindness in my life.
Okay, there used to be a time in life I didn't give without the hope that once I stepped out of my door, someone else would reciprocate the same. After expecting the same act without getting anything, it made me see giving my hard-earned resources to others like me pushing myself when nothing will come out of it.
Yes, there was a time I had that silly mentality and maybe it would have continued with me, but the few wonderful souls that came into my life taught in action that the life of giving is not supposed to be given and received rather give without expecting anything in return.
One of all I would like to share is the least I ever imagined. I had one course mate then who was known as the most quiet in our 0'17 set. This guy rarely communicates with others but his good grades kept drawing people closer to him.
Source
Personally, I am a self-reserved person who can be wild when I have observed and got to know someone. So Issac wasn't just the kind of person I thought anything could make us cross the same path or even exchange anything together.
I didn't know much about him though people have been saying a lot of good things about him. There was this advertising course we needed to produce a short commercial and that simply meant paying money for the project. We were grouped into different groups with different tasks to accomplish.
The amount for each person was 10,000 naira and not paying means carrying over the course till next year and the amount won't definitely be the same. That was a huge sum for me then, the group leader was a hot-tempered person who pressured us to pay the money like her life depended on it.
I was the only person left in the group to complete my payment as I succeeded in paying part just so she could let me breathe. After some weeks, she began again, an act that provoked me and I voiced out and she threatened to make me fail the course.
Inside me, I got scared but I didn't let it show. Two days after the banter, she stopped bugging me about the money. To myself I was feeling like a superhero with the mind that it was my confronting her that put a stop to her excesses.
When I got the balance, I went to her to make the payment and she said what left me shocked. "You think I would have allowed you to delay us then now before making this payment? Just be grateful to Isaac he assisted you in making the payment." I was short of words, I quickly rushed to look for him but couldn't find him anywhere round the premises I was.
I was able to meet him the next day and his words melted my hearr. "Putting smiles on the faces of others is one way I can contribute to making the world a better place and making myself happy. You don't have to thank me, that's one path that keeps me happy naturally."
Those words of his rang in my head the whole day. It was from that day forward I started practicing acts of kindness in any little way I could and currently it has gradually developed to be part of me. I no longer look at how much will remain if I take out any amount to help another. My interest is now more focused on being the reason another person smiles. In my own free will, I have shown acts of kindness to so many people from as little as helping those begging by the roadside, getting snacks for others instead of getting for myself alone to other bigger monetary favors as well.
The moment Isaac paid the 5000 naira for me meant a whole world to me because he saved me the insult I would have kept getting from the group leader, I was able to use my own 5,000 naira for something else. It shaped my life in a very positive way I must say. I am who I am today because of his kindness and that of others.