I come to the Vineyard once a year in the fall, and a pleasant habit I have developed over the years is sending postcards to many of my friends around the country with the beautiful and copious scenes around the island. Last week I visited the Vineyard Haven post office to purchase post card stamps, but they had none. Today, Monday Oct. 29, I returned to the post office only to discover that they still had no post card stamps to offer.

I left the post office a bit flustered, but as I started to get into my car a kind woman approached and told me she had overheard my conversation and had some post card stamps in her car that she would not use and offered to give them to me. To my surprise, she gave me about 50 stamps, approximately $20 worth. I did offer to buy them, but she turned me down, stating that she would rather “pay it forward” and hope that I would do the same for some soul in need.

I was touched by her gesture, and I intend to do just that. This lady taught me a real lesson today, and for that I am most grateful. It never hurts to show kindness to a stranger. It makes our world work better. I hope that I can help someone someday as much as she helped me.

Maclin Whiteman

West Chop