By Joseph J. Mazzella

It was many years ago. I was a young father on my way home to my wife and baby boy after spending all day taking college classes.

I had gone back to school to get a degree in education. I wanted to secure a teaching job that would help me to build a better life for my growing family. It was a two hour round trip to the college, though, so every day I would pray for my 20 year old gas guzzler to make it all the way.

As I started down a lonely stretch of highway about 12 miles from my home, I noticed a car parked along the side of the road with its emergency flashers on. On the side of it a small woman was struggling to change a flat tire. This was long before the age of cell phones and I knew that any other help might not arrive for awhile. I pulled up behind her car then and offered to give her a hand. Her own hands were bruised and bleeding from struggling with the lug nuts and she had tears of frustration in her eyes. The lug nuts were rusty and tight and the lug wrench a little small but after a while I got the flat tire off and the spare tire on. As I said goodbye the little lady hugged me with tears of relief this time. I waved and drove off a little embarrassed at her appreciation. After all, it had just been one kind act.

It took me a lot of years after that to learn the true power of one kind act. One kind act can change the world. One kind act can teach more love of God than a million words. One kind act can save a lost soul, heal a hurting heart, and mend a broken life.

Never pass up the opportunity then to do one kind act. Never pass up the chance to share your love. Never pass up the possibility that your own kindness can do God’s will and make this world a better place. Every day we are given the choice to be loving or selfish. Every day we are given the choice to be cruel or kind. Always choose to be kind.