Little acts of kindness can go a long way… and can ripple in positive ways you never anticipated.
One woman experienced one of these incredible deeds in a grocery store. The experience affected her to the point of tears. The act meant so much to her that she felt obliged to help the young man who showed her such kindness…but she was soon met with tragic news.
On November 10, Jamie Lynne-Knighten had a crying 5-month-old baby in her arms, a cart full of groceries, and a line forming behind her at an Oceanside, California, Trader Joe’s checkout counter when she realized she had left her debit card at home.
The mother of two attempted to pay her more than $200 tab with her credit card but declined repeatedly due to an anti-fraud lock. As she was attempting to reach her credit card company to get the lock lifted, a young man in line behind her offered to help.
“Matthew steps up to me and said, ‘May I?’ and I said, ‘May you what?’,” Jamie told ABC. “He said, ‘May I take care of your groceries?’ I told him, ‘no,’ and that it was a very large purchase. He really wanted too. He said, ‘You just have to promise that you’ll do it for somebody else…'”
Jamie realized that he wasn’t just being polite. He really wanted to help her. The mother was very grateful and she even asked his name.
Though she only spent about five minutes with Matthew Jackson, his act of kindness left a lasting impression on her.
Unfortunately, just one day after his kind gesture, the 28-year-old accidentally hit a tree with his car and passed away the following night from fatal injuries. When Jamie found out the news after trying to contact him at LA Fitness where he worked to say ‘thanks,’ she couldn’t believe it.
On November 11, Matthew was taking a coworker to Wal-Mart to get some transmission fluid when his car veered off the road and into a tree, killing him and injuring two of his coworkers who were in the car.
Jamie was shocked to hear what happened to the kind gentleman she’d met just days before.
She was also saddened to hear that she missed his memorial service, which was on Nov. 16, three days before her call.
“I could sense that he had a kind presence, but after talking to his family and friends, I found out just how big his heart was,” Jamie said. “I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him, but so sad that I won’t get a chance to thank him again.”
She has kept her promise to pay forward his favor.
Since the inspiring encounter, she’s paid for three strangers’ grocery bills. She’s also in the process of setting up a GoFundMe to help Matthew‘s coworkers, whose injuries will prevent them from working for a few months.
“If I could thank Matt today, I’d thank him for reminding me that there’s still a little bit of hope for humanity,” Jamie said.
Sources: OpposingViews, NBC 7, LA Times, ABC
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