It all started with something
I had read in school, “That we should 
do good for others, even strangers.”
But how was I at age nine
Going to be able to safely 
interact with a stranger on my own?
That very week, on a hot Saturday,
I saw our mailman struggling with his 
large leather satchel, sweating as
he climbed the steps to our
door side mailbox.
I called out, “Would you like a glass of water?”
He nodded and I ran to the refrigerator
to pour a glass of clear cold water
from the pitcher there.
After he finished it he smiled
and thanked me.
I’d never seen our 
mailman smile before!
It lit up my heart.
I treasured that smile and began 
to ponder other ways I 
could sow small seeds of kindness
and reap the joy of others’ smiles.
Kind remarks, compliments,
became my surest
path to reaping smiles from random folk
So small a thing, you may say, 
Although, I think those smiles
sow the seeds of happiness in others,
so others reap joy as well..
the deeds ripple out like bread 
or even stones dropped in water
so many others reap from the one
good word or small deed I’ve sown. 
You may shake your head 
my cynical friend,
but I smile at your scoffing
because I think that
maybe that is true.