RAKS

I recently experienced a rare act of selflessness that lacked the usual individualism imbibed by the Nigerian public. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that Nigerians are not nice; it’s just that seeing an act of kindness always surprises me. Guess I’m just a cynic.

It was Sunday morning and I was trying to get to church early from ‘gwags’, i.e. the University of Abuja for you non-residents. I got to the car park and decided to take an ‘el-rufai’ bus instead of the small ones. In you don’t know (non-residents) the ‘el-rufai’ is the name dubbed by the general public for the large bus introduced by a former FCT minister of the same name. It’s like the BRT with space for two to sit comfortably and for three to sit uncomfortably. There is provision for those who would rather stand (at a lesser fee of course!).

I managed to get a seat somewhere at the front of the bus beside a young man. Thirty minutes into the journey (it’s quite a distance from gwags to town) the bus stopped to pick more passengers, one of whom was an old man. The gentleman beside me didn’t miss a beat as he immediately rose and gave his seat to the old man. I started feeling a twinge of guilt that I dint even think of doing the same thing so I told the man that there was enough space for all of us. He smiled and said “thank you” like I gave up the entire seat.

Sometime later we spotted to pick up what I can only describe as an entire extended family without the dads. Like clockwork the man beside rose again and offered his seat so a couple of children could sit. Since there was only enough space for one (the old man was still seating there) I put one of the children on my lap and the man smiled at me like I single handedly instituted world peace and global enrichment.

I know some of you might be thinking that it’s not such a big deal but it was to me. When was the last time you did something nice for someone? I mean someone you don’t know without wanting something in return?

A writer (Sean Covey) referred to something called “RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS” (RAKS). You remember kindness right? the quality of being kind, meaning compassionate, humanitarian and benevolent? Anyway he encouraged people to carry out RAKs on both strangers and people they know. He said and I can attest that selfless service is emotionally rewarding.

You know what? Let’s all pick a day to carry out RAKs to people we wouldn’t normally ‘roll’ with. Please bear in mind that RAKs do not include buying soap for the person beside you who constantly stink, nor does it mean giving handouts to the less privileged. They could be anything from thoughtful messages to being there for a friend or non-friend when you’re needed. Like my friend on the bus you will find it much more rewarding than being on the receiving end. In the words I read off a tee-shirt (which usually carry unfathomed wisdom) “lets drop love not bombs”.