One of the things that having cancer has exposed me to is random acts of kindness.

I first encountered this concept from something the late Princess Diana once said:

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you."

Not everything about having cancer is bad.  Disgraced bicyclist Lance Armstrong, for example, perceived his cancer as “a gift.”

That’s because confronting a diagnosis that says, ‘Hey, maybe you’re going to die soon,’ can bring to many a great deal of insight about what’s going on in their lives and in the world around them.  About what’s important and what’s not so much.

I know that getting a multiple myeloma diagnosis takes your breath away.  If you’re one of those with the disease, you know what I mean.

It does expose you, though, to the considerable caring that people can have for others, even complete strangers.  You learn first-hand what Princess Diana meant about selfless “random acts of kindness.”

I have been so moved by the people who have gotten in touch with me or done something for me since I was diagnosed.  This includes people I haven’t seen in years, decades even, who somehow stumbled across my, uh, condition.  There are complete strangers – friends of friends – who have contacted me just to give encouragement.  And there are several groups of church folks of different denominations who regularly pray for me.

There are people who don’t know me from Adam who somehow came to care about me and want to do something to help.

I have two prayer shawls that two different people at two different churches thought it was worthwhile to spend time knitting for me.  I keep one in New York City and one at home.

They are reminders of the good and unselfish things that people do for others.

The other day, Dawn, who is the sister of a neighbor, came across the street, shovel in hand. While I was snowblowing the driveway, she went over and cleared the snow off our sidewalk to the front door.

Dawn, and others, know that pretty much everything I do takes a lot more effort than it used to.

When she was done, she came by, gave me a hug, and went back across the street.

Random acts of kindness, you know.

There are plenty of stories I could tell you about this, but I’m sure you get the point.

As I said, I am very moved by random acts of kindness.