Last weekend I took the bus back to my hometown upstate. It’s normally $15 each way, and when I was on my way home I figured paying for someones ticket would be a good act of kindness.

So, on Sunday I get on the bus at about 8 and gave the driver $20. She went to grab my change, but I told her to keep it for the next person who gets on and use it for their ticket. The driver gave me the strangest look like I was on drugs or something. I told her that it was for a school project, but I think that confused her even more.

I took my seat, near enough to the front so I could see my act of kindness unfold.  And as we pulled into Greenwood Lake, a short middle-aged woman got on the bus. She gave the driver the money for the ticket, and received an extra $5 in change. The woman did a double-take of the change and mumbled something to the driver. Then the driver got out of her seat and pointed right at me saying “That kid wanted to pay for it, ask him”, and I was pretty embarrassed since everyone on the bus was looking at me.

The lady ended up coming and sitting next to me, her name is Barbara and she lives in Greenwood Lake but was visiting her son in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I told her about my project, and she acted interested. We talked about the holidays and fake Christmas trees, which was pretty weird. Overall, it was an interesting experience but I probably won’t do it again.