Random Act of Kindness

Having spent a busy morning selling cave tour tickets, Cave Guide Emma joined the other guides in the Jenolan Caves staff lunch room.  She was excited. 

“I have a good news story”, she said, grabbing everyone’s attention. 

A young bloke, a backpacker, had come into the Ticket Office.  A visitor to Australia, he had just finished walking the rugged Six Foot Track, an arduous mountain track which stretches 44 km from Katoomba to Jenolan.  To help him decide on a guided cave tour, Emma described the Orient Cave to him. Tickets cost $45 each and there were only a couple left.

While this was happening, the second ticket seller, Cave Guide Alison, was helping a customer with a problem.  He had purchased 3 tickets online, for the strenuous River Cave guided tour, for $50 each, but his daughter had not been able to come.  Could he change his 3 tickets for 2 easier tours and maybe a gift voucher?  What to do?  It was school holidays, so a quick decision was imperative.  Cave tours were selling out fast.

With one ear, Emma heard her young customer say that he would really prefer something more adventurous than the Orient tour. And with her other ear, she heard Alison’s customer say that he had a spare River Cave ticket. The 2 ticket sellers put their heads together, and suggested a kind of swap, where they could exchange 2 of the older man’s River Cave tickets for the last 2 Orient Cave tickets. Then, the young man could buy 1 of the returned River Cave tickets.  But that wouldn’t totally solve the problem, because the older man would still be left with an unwanted River Cave ticket.

Suddenly, seeing a faster solution to the problem of the spare ticket, the older man said, “Actually, I’m just gonna give it to that man as a gift!”

Standing there, completely stunned, the young backpacker didn’t know what to say or do.  Emma said, “I know, why don’t you just go and shake his hand.” 

So, turning and shaking the older man’s hand, the younger man said, “Today is my birthday!”

So, on a chilly winter’s day, in the Jenolan Caves staff lunch room, our hearts all felt a little warmer! 

Princess Diana once said, “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”