I had this idea after going ice skating with my girlfriend a few days ago. I almost never carry cash with me, and as it turns out, renting skates was cash only. We didn’t realize this until after the guy behind the counter had already retrieved my size 13 skates. I told him I had cash in my car, but he just shrugged, smiled, and said, “happy new year!” Renting skates was only $3, but obviously it was more about the kindness, and less about the money. When we were done skating I had my girlfriend go back to the car and grab my cash so I could tip the guy. They take your shoes for collateral, or I would have went back myself. She came back with a twenty dollar bill, and I preceded to return the skates. When the guy came back, I asked him if he could break my twenty dollar bill into two tens. He shot me a weird look, but happily obliged. When he came back, I took one of the tens out of his hand and told him to keep the other one. He refused and refused and refused…but I insisted and said, “thank you and happy new year.”

It felt good to tip someone for once not because it was expected, but because it wasn’t expected at all. I was left with one ten dollar bill that afternoon, and I’ve decided to spend it in an unexpected way. I’m going to take it, and do a random act of kindness with it. Every week this year I’m going to take ten dollars and see just how far it will go bringing a stranger happiness. Every $10 bill I do this with I’m going to write the name of this blog on it, and suggest the person perform a random act of kindness with it. The person I perform the random act of kindness for wouldn’t necessarily receive the bill. Fo instance, If I bought something, the Hamilton would travel into the economy to endless destinations. The idea would be for the person who inherits the bill to come here and write about their experience being kind. It would almost be a marriage between the movie Pay It Forward and the website wheresgeorge.com. If they had a baby, it would be this blog.