The Ripple Effect of Kindness

The world is a small place, indeed. You never know when your past will meet your present. A while ago, someone from secondary school recognized me. It was not just the fact that I met her that made the world feel small, but the way our connection came full circle. She knew someone who is now one of the closest people in my life. And in that moment, I realized that things could have played out very differently. I could have been someone she remembered for the wrong reasons. Instead, I was grateful that she remembered me for being myself.

When she saw me, she pulled me aside and asked if I remembered her. Her face was familiar, but the memory was missing. She went on to remind me. During a Maths competition, she had been too nervous to continue, too scared to trust that she could finish. But I had stayed with her. I had encouraged her until the very end. Even now, I still cannot recall doing that. But she does.

It made me think about how often we underestimate the impact we have on others. A kind word, a small gesture, an act so insignificant to us that we forget it ever happened, yet, to someone else, it is enough to be remembered. It is enough to shift the course of their day, maybe even their life.

The truth is, we do not always get to see the effects of our kindness, but they are there. They live in the moments we do not think twice about. They travel beyond us, shaping the stories others tell about us long after we have forgotten them. And maybe, just maybe, the kindness we pour into the world has a way of finding its way back to us. 

All my love, 

Olamide from MANI.