It was a rainy day when a single person’s actions happened to change everything.

There once was a boy who always wore a frown. No matter the occasion, the absence of a smile was evident on his lips. He scoffed and snarled, wearing the expression like cold steel armor.

The kids and adults around him whispered. “He must dread life.” But it wasn’t that he hated life; he found no importance in smiling when there was no reason to do so.

One day, when the rain had stopped and the pavement glistened with water, the boy spotted an old lady. She clutched her last piece of bread, hunger written on her face, and ready to eat—or so he thought.

Despite her hunger, she chose not to savor her last bits of food. Instead, she threw it into a pond where the ducks quickly swam for their newfound treat.

The boy was dumbfounded. “Why would she do that?” he thought. “Will her stomach be full when the ducks eat the bread? Will the money she used to pay for it magically come back into her hands?”

He couldn’t waste another second; he had to ask.

“What good does wasting your food do for you?” What he expected to be an offended glare turned out to be a warm smile. The lady faced him with empty hands but a heart so full.

“Kindness, you mean?”

The boy grew even more confused. What he saw earlier didn’t look like a single thing close to kindness.

It was more like a waste of time.

The old lady’s face softened as she noticed the curious look on his face. She patted him on the shoulder. “You see how the water rippled when I threw out the bread?” The boy nodded. “The stillness of the water is disturbed, is it not? Because when you throw something at the world, it will ripple, no matter how big or small the thing you throw is.”

“Kindness is the same, boy.” But the boy still didn’t understand. How can someone be so kind that it made him flinch?

”And yet, as the ripple fades, I am met with my reflection. Again, the same goes for kindness, one act you do will always find its way back to you.” She smiled, it was a smile so warm, it reminded the boy of what he didn’t have—a heart warm enough to be kind.

At school, his classmates would mock him. “Did you leave your smile at home?” they laughed. It only confirmed what he believed: there was no reason to be kind in a world that was so often cruel.

However, later that day, as he was walking home, he saw a girl with a bag so heavy that she tripped and spilled her books onto the ground. Most passed by, but one person stayed.

One stranger handed her the book and even made a silly joke that made her smile. The boy frowned as the scene unfolded, but his heart felt different this time.

The same girl went on to open a door for a stranger. The stranger helped a tired mother carry groceries. And the mother? She smiled as she walked past the boy.

It was just a smile.

But it startled him.

Just a little.

It was the first time in a while that someone had looked so pleased to see him. Others never found a reason to. And yet, she still smiled.

He would’ve scoffed, rolled his eyes, or even snarled—until eventually it reached him; how kindness somehow found a way to slip into the cracks of his heart.

For so long, he assumed life couldn’t be anything but stagnant and devoid of color. And kindness was meaningless.

Until he decided to pass it on.

One day at school, he saw a new student who seemed to be lost. Without thinking, he tapped him on the shoulder and decided to help him navigate his classes.

”Thanks,” the new boy said. “You’re very kind.”

“Kind?”

Those simple words settled warmly on his heart like a ray of sunshine kissing his face.

He would have frowned.

Instead, the corners of his lips lifted—just a little.

It wasn’t as if the boy never had a heart; he only needed to be reminded of the one he had all along.

From that day moving forward, the boy didn’t frown so much.

He still had hard days, but he tried.

He smiled more.

He learned that the old lady was right. Kindness was like the ripple on the pond when you throw your last piece of bread to feed the ducks. Something so small to you, but it has the possibility of having a big impact on someone else.

And the people who remind us of kindness, in the quietest ways, inspire us to pass that torch onward. Friend to friend or stranger to stranger.

Because it will always—always find its way back to you.