The Kindness of Strangers

The other day, my wife and I and our two kids were out on the town, taking care of a few errands. When you live as remotely as we do, there is no trip to town that is less than two hours round trip, so errands always include a meal.

We decided to stop in at a Japanese restaurant that we have enjoyed in the past and sat down to a very nice meal. My wife ordered hand rolls, but I got to eat the spicy salmon one because it was a bit too spicy for her. I ordered a sashimi bowl which consisted of at least eight different types of seafood, all raw with the exception of the cephalopod and the shrimp, sliced into very generous pieces and laid on top of a bed of rice. Our daughter had food of her own, but we shared our food with her and our son.

At the end of our meal, my wife headed up to the register to settle our bill. When she got to the cashier, the lady apologized and said that we shouldn't have even gotten a bill. A man sitting behind us had enjoyed watching our family so much that he decided to pay for our food without letting us know. My wife headed over to thank him (I didn't yet know of the situation, as I was wrangling children), and barely got a first name out of him because he really didn't want it to be a big deal. After leaving a generous tip and walking outside, we decided that we wanted to pass on the generosity, so I went back in and asked the cashier to let me pay for another table's meal. The whole situation sounded exactly like something that ItStartsWith.Us would encourage.

At this point we left, but were so amazed by the kindness and generosity of that man that we intend to follow his example when we are able in the future. I'm sure there is no way for us to check, but I hope that the couple was informed of the story behind their bill being paid and that they continued to pass along the good deed.