Contagious Kindness

It's 4:00 a.m. I'm headed to the airport for an early flight. I stop at the doughnut shop. Eight or ten truck drivers are standing around. I ask, "Is this a line?" Someone says no, so I order a coffee and muffin. Several dollar bills lay on the counter, and I say loudly "Someone forgot their change." A driver steps forward. I quip, "Thought you were buying my coffee."
He says to me, "Why not?" And to the doughnut man: "I'm covering the man's coffee."
The doughnut man replies, "Nice! I'll throw in his muffin."
My breakfast is a gift from strangers, a serendipitous moment, and such a glad one that for the next several hours I find myself being cheerful and generous to every stranger I meet. SARS may be contagious, but so is kindheartedness.

- Gordon MacDonald