Yesteday while I was having my own Father’s day celebration, I thought about my dad a lot.  By the time I called to tell him that I loved him, he had already gone to bed.  I was bumbed out a bit because of missing him so I thought I would write a little post about what my dad means to me.

My dad is that absolute most kindest man in the world.  He would never hurt anyone intentionally and would give the shirt off his back in an instant.  This made me reflect on a story about 28 years ago. 

My dad was a used car salesman and owned his own car lot and body shop on several occasions.  Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA to the auction.  Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it at the auction. 

Although this happened numerous times, I recall one incident on one of those trips to Shreveport.  This time, I was riding with my dad to Shreveport for the auction when he spotted a hitch hiker with a backpack.  As soon as dad saw him, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride.  Dad asked him his name, told him ours, (there were four of us in the car) and proceeded to talk to him about all sorts of things.  Dad told him we were heading to Shreveport so that was as far as we could take him.  The hitchhiker graciously thanked him for his kind deed.  Once we got back on the interstate, Dad asked him where he was going.  The hitchhiker told him he was headed out west.  I can’t recall why but he told dad a lot of things that had occurred to him to make that decision.  I sat in the back seat and watch the scene with amazement.  I could see that the hitchhiker changed his attitude as he could tell someone was really listening to him.  It was quite an exchange and I watched it as if I were taking notes and a pop quiz was to follow.  I do know that it was quite cold outside and the hitchhiker was very happy to have a heater going.

We drove another forty-five minutes before we had to exit the interstate.  We pulled over and dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon.  He reached into his pocket and handed the hitchhiker a twenty dollar bill and then a ten dollar bill.  The guy was beaming now.  He nearly lit up right there on the cold, dark highway.

We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing.  I was still completely amazed by what I just witnessed.  I was always told by everyone to never pick up a hitchhiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one.  I am sure that it made that poor man’s day, probably a month to follow.  Dad always gave them money even if he did not have very much of his own. 

While reflecting upon that story, I learned a lot about my dad and life.  I learned that if you come from a place of service or compassion, you can change people’s lives.  Just one single kind act can change someone’s life.  It never occurred to my dad about not stopping to help him.  He listened with empathy as the man poured out his guts about the tragic events that occurred to him several years before.  

This is the type of person my dad is.  Thank you dad for setting such high goals for me to follow.

I love you.  Happy Father’s Day!

Bill 

Yesterday, my wife and I were on our way home from the office.  At a busy intersection, a car honked then cut in front of me to pull off the road.  Immediately, I put on the brakes to let him over.  I then noticed there was a guy pushing the car off the road.  I pulled in right behind him to stop my car and help but it was going downhill for the moment.  I put on the flashers and awaited for his momentum to stop.  It did as he pulled into a gas station. 

He had run out of gas and knew it.  The problem was that the rest of the way was uphill.  I jumped out and immediately began pushing.  We had momentum until he accidently hit the curve and all of our momentum was stopped immediately.   Then, out of no where, it was like we were trying to push a brick wall.  The car started backwards and I told him to hit the brakes because there was nothing left in either of us.  I thought that maybe we could rest a bit and start again.  We waited a minute and started and we weren’t able to move it a single inch as it actually started rolling backwards.  The temperature was 100 degrees and it is amazing how quickly you can run out of all your energy.

Now the coolest thing happened.  Several other guys dropped what they were doing and came running up to help.  It was perfect timing because I was just about at the point that I was thinking we couldn’t push it the rest of the way.  I thanked both of these guys as a third guy came running up.  It was such a positive experience.  The guy with the empty tank looked back to me three times as I got in my car to drive away.  First he nodded and said thank you.  As I pulled off, he gave me a very kind gesture with his eyes that felt so good.  That is what true gratitude FEELS like when someone expresses it.

Peace and kindness,

Bill

PS – Pass it on!

One week into the Kindness Challenge has been a major success.  Currently there are over 1,100 kind acts logged.  THANK YOU!  Please remember to send me your stories of kindness by either emailing me at bill@positract.com or posting your comments under the blog post below.

You really are making a difference.  Thank you, thank you, and THANK YOU!

Kindness Challenge

Today is June 1st and the official start date for the Kindness Challenge of logging 5,000 kind deeds for the month.  When you have a good story, come back to this post to place your comments about your experience.  I really want you to put as many posts as possible because your stories will help others during the challenge.
Go to the landing page to get detailed instructions at:  https://idontstink.com/index.php?p=idontstink_kindnesschallenge to learn how to issue your own challenge.  This page should be operational by late Monday afternoon June 2nd.

KIND DEEDS INDEED!

June Kindness Challenge:  Can you make a difference?  You feel called to make the world a better place, but when you watch the news you think, “How can one person possibly affect real change?”  You are the answer you seek!  You can make a difference by personally practicing random acts of kindness everyday.  A fun way to track the impact you’re having is to play Bill King’s Kindness Challenge at www.idontstink.com.  (Stinkin’ Thinkin’ Stinks!)  Bill has challenged us to do 5,000 kind acts in June.  Are you up to the challenge?  Every time you do something kind in June, go to www.idontstink.com to log your kind acts and watch the total skyrocket!  No kind act is too small, and together we can make the world a better place, one random act of kindness at a time!

Today I needed to run a few errands.  As I started out, I noticed I was going to need to get gas soon.  I had plenty to do the things I needed to do but something told me to go get gas, so I trusted it.  The moment I started pumping the gas, I heard “thump, thump, thump, thump.”  Before I even looked up, I knew what that sound was, a flat tire.  I walked over to the car where a lady was wondering what was going on.  She rolled down the window and I asked her if I could help.  She was relieved and immediately replied, “YES!”  I finished pumping the gas while she cleaned out her trunk to get to the spare tire.  I changed her tire and as I finished she said, “Thank you so much.  You sure have done your kind deed for today.  This really the qualifies your kind deed for the whole week ahead.”  That was really cool.  I told her she was welcome and drove off.  I was now dirty and sweaty and needed to go back home to clean up a bit.  I didn’t get to all my errands but I sure felt good after doing the kind deed.

As I thought about this incident, I could not help but remember all the times that people showed up to help me when I had car trouble or needed assistance.  My intuition or gut told me not only to get gas, but which gas station to go to.  Since this gas station was in the opposite direction of where I was headed, I probably would have either waited to get gas or get it closer to where my errands where if I hadn’t listened to my intuition.  She was truly grateful just as I was truly grateful for others that helped me.  When you learn to trust your intuition, you will not only transform your life, you will also help lots of people.

Beginning June 1st, I am issuing a Kindness Challenge.  The Challenge will consist of logging 5,000 kind deeds on my Kindness Meter at www.idontstink.com for the month of June.  Get ready to be challenged.  Don’t wait until June 1st, start today.

Love and gratitude,

Bill