Kindness and Callbacks

Day 53:

When I came home today there was a wrong number that had left a message on our home voicemail.

It was clear that the gentleman that left the message sincerely thought he dialed the correct number; he spoke clearly and confidently, and I guess I could see how he might have thought he dialed accurately since our outgoing message is rather generic and indistinguishable.

It was an honest mistake – one that perhaps most of us have made.

And perhaps like must of us would naturally react, I immediately motioned to push the number on the phone that would erase the message, but as my finger was about to press down 3, I pulled it back.

“Wait a minute,” I thought. “As simple as it is, this could be an opportunity for me to help someone out.”

So I replayed the message, wrote down the number Mr. Stranger left, and called it back. I think I was motivated to this action because if I were to leave a message on a wrong number I would want to know it. And after all, all I would have to do when he answered is inform him that he called the wrong number, and that his intended audience does not know he called them, because he didn’t. (By the way, the ‘because he didn’t’ part is only there for your benefit, I wouldn’t have actually stated that part.)

Either way, I was unable to communicate the what-I-thought-to-be-helpful message because no one answered….I wonder if he ignored the call because he, ironically, didn’t recognize my number.

What’s the lesson? Why is this relevant?

I think this event from today stands out as a lesson for me because being kind and considerate really can be that easy – today I learned that we don’t have to change the whole world to show that we can be a positive change to the world we live.

My effort had no impact whatsoever, but it did reveal to me that we are more than a work in progress; if we choose, we can become a work of progress.

How are you progressing?