Photo via stoked.org.

On Saturday February 4, 2017, I happened to interrupt my morning routine in an effort to catch up on some Instagram stories. While perusing through my stories, I happened to come across the feed of jeffstaple. As I made time to scroll through Jeff’s stories, I witnessed something that not only caught my attention, but very quickly caught my heart.

At around 1 am that Saturday morning, Jeff happened to observe someone waiting in the frigid cold temperature at a bus stop in his neighborhood in New York City. Thanks to his compassion, empathy, and mindfulness, Jeff decided to help out his fellow companion by calling them a ride to take them wherever they may have needed to go.

Photo via jeffstaple.

Photo via jeffstaple.

Photo via jeffstaple.

I find this story to be super inspiring as well as a great act of random kindness (please check out kindness.org). As a native New Yorker (I now reside in New Jersey), I often understand why we get bashed for our fast-paced, care-free lifestyle. We see so much happening in our day to day environment that it’s easy to feel as though in order to survive and not be taken advantage of, we must close our eyes and cover our ears to the realities and overstimulating demands of our environment. As a result, we often become numb to the need for compassion and taking care of others.

The reason why I decided to share this story is because I personally believe that we need to see more stories like this in our headlines. Amidst the over saturation of negativity which will often find a way to dominate our timelines and social media feeds, we need to expose ourselves to stories which help to promote positivity and inspire our communities. Regardless of whatever region of the world we may currently live in, we can all make a small choice and take a small action which can help to make a HUGE difference in the life of someone else. Let’s ask ourselves, what will our world look like when compassion becomes contagious? How can we spread a positive social contagion?

Photo via Jordan Cuellar.

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Cultural Curator, and Educator. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.