By MISTIKA IDRIS
brats@thestar.com.my

IN this day and age, everything happens so quickly. It is a time when we are all consumed by the myriad of technology and information available at our fingertips. Communication is faster and easier than ever, especially with smart phones that are smarter than ourselves.

It is not abnormal to see people walking around nowadays, heads bowed, tapping away at their phones. We watch movies about zombie apocalypses but we really don’t need to – all we have to do is look around.

In the midst of chasing our dreams, paychecks or even just the next viral game high score, we tend to forget to be nice or do nice things for people. Not because we want something in return, but just because.

So, when was the last time you did something nice for someone?

Random acts of kindness do not always mean doing something big or grand for someone. Sometimes, it is the tiniest things we do that can make someone else’s day. Be it a simple “hello, how are you doing?”, a compliment or even just looking up from our phones every once in a while to smile at a passer-by.

It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small, because an act of kindness is an act of kindness.

I myself have recently experienced an extraordinary act of kindness.

The bus was packed on my way home after college. I had been so flustered on the bus that I had dropped my wallet, only realising this when I returned home.

My first thought was it was stolen – someone on the bus must have taken it! To me, it was just not a possibility that I’d ever see it again, especially considering how there was a considerable amount of money in it.

However, the very next day, just when I was about to report my wallet as missing, someone from college came up to me saying that a bus driver had called and said that a passenger had seen my wallet and passed it to him.

The bus driver, who saw my student identification card, actually went through the trouble to call up my college to inform them about the missing wallet.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement! Here I was, thinking the worst of people, when the same people had already done something remarkable for me.

That day, I learnt that there may be some people who are bad and do bad things – but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, people will surprise you when you least expect it.

As US President Barrack Obama once said: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek”.

So, don’t forget: while you are busy getting caught up with life, don’t forget to do a random act of kindness for someone ever so often. Be the change!

The writer is a member of The Star’s BRATs young journalist programme. To find out more about the BRATs, log on to facebook.com/starbrats.