Unexpected Acts of Kindness: A New York Minute
Kindness and civility make the world, and us, better.
Small Acts of Kindness From Strangers to Strangers
Two women edge onto a Madison Avenue bus going downtown from East 72nd Street. One seems in medical distress. Two young men, one in a suit, the other in baggy jeans, stand up, giving the newcomers their seats.
“Thank you,” the women say.
The men nod in a way that suggests they’ve just practiced what they view as basic civility.
A few stops later, an unkempt bearded man hauls many bags onto the bus and stands in front of me, his knees slightly bent. He may or may not be homeless.
“Do you want to sit down?” I ask, rising to give him my seat.
“No,” he says, not quite looking at me.
Still, I can tell he appreciates the gesture.
A helping hand is worth everything.
Movie Dreams
We arrive at the Paris, a storied arthouse movie theater near the Plaza Hotel. Once inside, Elaine, our elderly friend, grips the banister to prepare to slog down a long staircase to the women’s room.
“There’s a single bathroom on this floor,” the woman in the ticket booth runs out to say.
She guides, or attempts to guide, the octogenarian to the hidden bathroom. Elaine doesn’t want help but is happy to avoid the stairs.
After the movie, we head east to a Peruvian Mexican restaurant away from the 5th Avenue crowds and the hordes of people taking pictures of the Christmas window displays at Bergdorf’s. The festive Latin music is too loud for Elaine, who can’t hear well. My husband asks for a quieter table.
The hostess and staff pitch in to set up a special table for us in the back, in a semi-private space. They’re extra sweet to Elaine, whom the waiter calls “young lady”, and then to our daughters, who arrive after work.
“Beautiful family,” our waiter, who we learn is Spanish and Italian, says, smiling.
The Unexpected
The next day, Christmas Eve, we visit our daughter in Brooklyn. She’s working from home on two screens, as “the kids” all do now. During her lunch break, she takes us to the DeKalb food market, a crowded foodie mecca. We sit at the counter tucking into a Cubano sandwich, Ropa vieja, and chicken soup.
Someone taps my shoulder.
“Your purse is on the floor.”
She picks up my cross-body bag from the cold tile so that I don’t have to stand and hands it to me to secure in a safer place.
Kindness is contagious. Kindness is happening all around us, even in hard-hearted Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
These very small-but-large, wonderful things happened to me in the space of eighteen hours on December 23 and December 24, 2025, in my famously rude hometown.
Take note and solace: I do.
We hope for rays and shoots and flowering of kindness and civility everywhere.
What We Wished For
I started this piece with the idea of reporting on whether the wishes we had at the beginning of 2025 had come true. Kitchen Table Talk hoped for the following in 2025:
-A coming together of the American people
-Peace, love, and understanding across the world
-A return to civility, kindness, and mutual respect regardless of political opinions
-Finding common ground wherever possible
-People trying to talk to each other across all spectrums, including geographic, socio-economic, political, age, race, and background
-Good quality, affordable, accessible healthcare and housing
-No school shootings or mass murders
-A rejection of Nazism, fascism, and autocracy
-A commitment to Democracy and the principles set forth by the nation’s founders
-A shared, common understanding of civics, the history of the United States, and how democracy works
-Separation of powers; three independent branches of government which all check each other
-Free speech and freedom of religion as intended in the Constitution
-Independent judiciary and Congress
-An end to gerrymandering for both parties
-Enforceable ethical guidelines for all judges
-Benevolent leadership who seeks to serve all Americans, not just those who voted for their side
-An atmosphere of goodwill rather than bitter partisanship
-An end to congressional gridlock and lack of decorum in official proceedings
-Serious attention to and creation and enforcement of rules about conflicts of interest across the government
-Spending less money on elections and misinformation
-Civics education campaign
-Prosperity, reduced grocery prices, and decreased inflation
-Considered, fact-based, expert decisions with respect to alliances, foreign policy, climate change, health, guns in all parts of the government
-Government which acts in the best interests of the country rather than those with money or influence, rather than out of hate and prejudice, and rather than out of partisanship
-Respect for and adherence to the rule of law; equal and fair justice for all citizens
-Open-mindedness
-Seeking out of different opinions
-Less reliance on social media and podcasts for news
-Education about misinformation and how to analyze material on “new” media
-Uncompromised news reporting and opinions which rely on traditional fact checking before printing anything
-Smiles, warmth, and kindness
Did we get all these items on our wish list?
Emphatically, depressingly, no.
Kitchen Table Talk’s most visited blogs- discussing separation of powers in the United States, the negatives of the Spoils System, and why we’re so mean online- garner more visitors every day.
Did we get some of these items on our wish list?
Emphatically, joyously, yes.
Including the vibe shift, or good vibes at least, I felt in New York in the hours before Christmas 2025.
What We Still Hope For and Will Try To Achieve
Once again, we at Kitchen Table Talk have the same wishes for our country and for ourselves.
All these wishes will not come true. They never do. But we will continue to try to be kinder and more civil ourselves, to find ways to try to make a difference every day in some way, to support those who need it or who are bullied or unfairly targeted, to live day by day, to celebrate progress, to remain clear eyed, and to find joy wherever we can, in the hope-- and knowledge-- that it can spread.
From our kitchen table to yours, we wish all the best for, from, and of you, the US, and the world. To paraphrase Nick Lowe, there’s nothing funny about peace, love and understanding.
