iExam #2

Saturday morning on the 28th of October, I attempted to do something that doesn't seem extremely difficult but was much harder than I expected. I tried to say and do only kind things, speak the truth, and have my actions and words be useful for others. Thinking of the idea does not seem to arduous but I soon came to realize it is not an easy task. I am not mean or hurtful to others on a daly basis at all but I am for sure not an angel either so to control my actions strictly in a positive manner was quite the test.
I flew home Friday night to go visit my family and friends back in Georgia. I landed late at night on Friday and woke up early the next morning to my dad's voice asking if I wanted to go to breakfast with him. It seems very sweet so one can only be confused as to why I usually deny the invitation and tell him not to wake me up again but this is because my dad usually comes crawling in at 6:45am on a Saturday morning. I am extremely close with my dad and we are best friends but the one thing I am not good with is mornings. I have gone to breakfast with him many many times at the crack of dawn but I have also declined the invite many times too. Unfortunately for my dad, I have 3 other siblings who are also not good with mornings so he jumps from room to room hoping one of us will go to an early breakfast with him. On this early Saturday morning, my dad was going to be one happy camper. He came in and instead of responding with a grouchy attitude I politely accepted his invite and we went forth with the breakfast. My small act of kindness made his face light up and smile grow larger than anyone thought was possible at 6:45 in the morning. When he light up with excitement, so did I and it made me happy to know how special our time together is to him. I even offered to drive considering I do not have a car at school and miss driving very much! We pull out of our neighborhood and it seems as if were the only people on the planet. With the very few cars on the road one managed to test my patience by driving extremely slow on a one way road. I have a very short patience and would usually road rage but instead I looked at the bigger picture; my dad and I do not get a lot of weekends together due to me being so far away from home so I should cherish every minute I have with him. We carried on behind the slow car and my dad and I had great conversations full of laughter and smiles. Being best friends, my dad and I often joke with each other by dishing out innocent remarks of criticism. However, this time I decided to take a different approach and did not nit-pick one thing about him. Instead of saying how his grey hair is becoming more and more noticeable I would tell him how in shape he is for a man who is more than half a century old! The jokes continued but I kept a more positive attitude with my word choice and actions and the day started off in a much more cheerful mood.
My dad and I head home and it is still extremely early so I go back to bed and wake up at noon to meet my best friend who goes to a local college so he still lives directly across the street from me. Keeping in mind that I am trying to stay kind during the whole day, we greet each other with a big hug. We caught up and he later tells me some sad news about his dog of 13 years passing away. Alex is an only child so his dog was the closest thing he had to a sibling and they developed a strong relationship that got taken away. On any other day, I would treat Alex like a brother in the sense of saying and doing things majority of brothers do; hitting each other, arguing, fighting, calling one another names ect. This day was different though. I had to do an the assignment for class and it just so happen to be a couple weeks after his dog passed in which I was able to see him shortly after. I was being as nice as I possibly could to him but also giving him the truth of the matter along with some helpful ways to go about the incident. I told him if he ever wants to talk about it I am always here for him. Also how his dog is gone and there is nothing that he can do about it now but look back at the fun times they had and be grateful for them. When you are as close to someone like Alex and I are, sometimes the caring, kind side of you is hidden until something sad or bad happens and I did not think of this until this situation so it was perfect that I was doing this assignment. I was able to put Alex in good spirits and cheer him up by being kind to him and talking about all the funny things the did with the dog while he was around.
Finally I came home for dinner and because I was in town, my sisters from UGA came home to spend time with myself and the family for the weekend. As any dinner goes in the Higgins household, it begins pleasant but someone says something and it triggers a huge argument. Not going to lie sometimes it is very entertaining and I normally let it go and enjoy my dinner. This time though, I stepped in and brought some of the arguments to an end by acting as a Dr. Phil as you could say. Meghan and Kelly, my sisters, were arguing about who stole each others clothes and I stopped the screaming and walked them through the misunderstanding the mature way. I was kind by saying not calling each of them out for being over dramatic and crazy but true and useful by telling them they need to ask each other before they take each others clothes. As that quickly subsided my family concluded the dinner nicely and it was pleasant to have a full house again. My mom had made desserts for everyone and I made sure I thanked her for her delicious meal and dessert. I also helped her clean the table and wash the dishes which she was so grateful for because most of the time she does it on her own. The small act of kindness made my mom's night, my siblings night, and my dad's day a whole lot better.
What I learned from this experiment was that you cannot control everyone else's attitude in the world but you can control your own and it impacts people more than you can imagine. The little acts of kindness take you further than you would think. We never know what people are going through but if we approach each day with a kind, truthful, and useful attitude/actions then only good can come out of it. It made me look at life a little differently. No matter the day or situation, everyone can use joyful attitudes and company. I think everyone should try to better themselves every day because at the end of it, they are bettering the world.