.png)
An act of kindness is something that never goes unnoticed and is one of the best characteristics a human could have. Simple sayings such as, ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ go a long way and can really change somebody’s perspective on their day. A wise person once said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” It took a specific act of kindness for me to fully understand this concept in a way that is very common.
A few months ago, I applied to become a volunteer at St. Johns Macomb Oakland Hospital and I can say that the experiences that I have encountered during my time there have taught me how to be a better person in ways I never thought was even possible. I can put together so many instances where just my smile brightened up somebody’s day or even a small conversation made them feel loved.
One day, I entered the hospital and checked in like I usually did and after that I proceeded my way into the emergency department. I went to every room like I normally did and asked each person if there was anything I could do to make them more comfortable. One lady stopped me and asked me to stand by her side and give her company because she was in a lot of pain and she didn't have any family with her. I grabbed a chair and started talking to her and tried to do everything in my power to get her mind off the pain or the fact that her daughter wasn’t there when she needed her more than anything. I spent almost my whole shift in her room because I knew that if I were in that position, I would not have made it alone. I talked to my patient representative and asked her if there was any way that a relative could make it and be there for her. Unfortunately, none of her relatives were picking up but all she kept telling me was that she loves her daughter and that she didn’t want me to leave her side. That situation was one that wasn’t in my hand and the only thing I could give her was reassurance.
Before I left that night, the lady was quiet for a couple minutes and she said, “thank you for staying by my side.” Those words are all that it took for me to realize that the smallest things you do for someone are sometimes the most meaningful things you could do for anyone. The next week when I came back to volunteer, my patient representative told me that she was transferred to the ICU unit and said that she had been asking for me before she was put on the ventilator. Despite knowing that I wouldn’t be able to talk to her, I went up to the unit to see her lying there on a bed with a breathing machine down her throat but I didn’t go there to gain something out of it, I simply just remembered what she had said to me a week before and stood by her side because her family wasn’t there.
As of my knowledge, she is now okay but is still being watched carefully at a different hospital. But just knowing that I was there for somebody that didn’t have their family’s support when they needed it the most, makes me feel like I did a good deed. I do these types of things from the bottom of my heart because my dad was a cancer patient and I knew how crucial it was to be next to his side all the time because I never really knew when it was going to be the end. Life Is so unpredictable so I’ve learned to always do things that people can remember you by and to always be the person that takes the action and goes the extra mile to make an initiative that will benefit another person’s life. I would have to say that being a volunteer has given me plenty of opportunities to make the little difference in people’s lives and I couldn’t be more grateful to have been given this opportunity and I can’t wait to continue doing this in a similar setting for a living.
