This small act of kindness story focuses on the impact that politeness and positivity can have on the world around us.

I was recently back home in Wales for the week to see some family and I took the opportunity to go for a nice socially distanced walk with a good friend of mine. We met up on the beautiful cliff edge, walked around for a good 3 hours or so, stopping every now and again to chat more. We seemed to forget how far we were walking with the constant, rushed flow of conversation we had to have after not seeing each other in such a long time. We started by walking up through town to grab a coffee for our walk and this is where I first saw his inspiring politeness. When we got to the cafe I quite politely asked for a black americano, my usual choice of drink and he did the same, but the way he requested it and spoke to the person behind the counter was so lovely. ‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Yes, that’s great, thank you’ were very common phrases he used throughout the day. Even the simple yet meaningful ‘have a nice day’ he said to everyone he interacted with had such an impact on the people around him because he didn’t just say it, it felt like he genuinely meant it. He hoped and wanted those people to have a nice day. It was the same for when he said ‘thank you’. It wasn’t just something he said out of habit like lots of us do, but it was like he really acknowledged and appreciated the person he was saying thank you to.

These small acts of kindness, simply through being polite, noticing and appreciating the people around you can have such a positive impact. I saw this first hand by seeing the smile left on every person's face that my friend interacted with. Even after spending a few hours with him, I felt the positive energy rub off on me and it left me with a big smile on my face for the rest of the day, and from that I hope that I passed on that positivity to the next person.

An example of a small act of kindness like this shows the impact that it can have on the world. It shows how a small act of kindness can ripple throughout our society and through one act at a time, we can make the world a slightly better place.