Wife floored after caring husband buys towers of paper cups to make coffee for homeless man on his work route

The power of kindness, even through the simplest of gestures, stands unmatched. A woman named Kate Pfeifer (@katepfeiferfit) was moved when she learned about her boyfriend’s surprising act of kindness. Upon noticing paper cups stacked inside their house, she wondered why her partner had ordered so many. To this, his response was completely unanticipated and beyond touching. The simple effort that only took him a couple of minutes left a life-changing impact on many, with people hoping to be able to share little pockets of love as he did. 

Marisa Franco, a psychologist and author of “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends,” said, “We have this negativity bias when it comes to social connection. We just don’t think the positive impact of our behaviors is as positive as it is,” per The New York Times. A study published on APA PsycNet revealed that a single good deed leaves a significantly larger impact than one estimates. The study noted that givers often underestimate the value of doing their deeds, thinking that such acts of kindness might be a passing joy to the receiver. However, the recipients noted that those same tiny acts gave them a feeling of “enhanced warmth.” 

“With a study like this, I hope it will inspire more people to actually commit random acts of kindness,” Franco said. Pfeifer noticed her husband making coffee beside a tower of paper cups. When she enquired about his purchase, he revealed that it was for a homeless man. The kind gentleman decided to pour a little cup of coffee for a homeless man he passed by every morning and share it with him on his way to work. The stack of cups signaled that this was going to be a regular ritual rather than a one-time offering. In her caption, Pfeifer also mentioned that he was glad to take a few treats for the man’s chihuahua, too. 

A simple effort. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to brew an extra cup of coffee. It doesn’t cost much to get paper cups. But that small effort would become a life-changing intervention in the homeless man’s life. One can only imagine him sitting on the road, cherishing that warm cup of coffee, learning what kindness and gratitude are. The man’s selfless attitude is an encouragement to reach out in love. 

Dr. Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, explained, “People tend to think that what they are giving is kind of little, maybe it’s relatively inconsequential. But recipients are less likely to think along those lines. They consider the gesture to be significantly more meaningful because they are also thinking about the fact that someone did something nice for them.” These acts don’t have to be grand ones; they can be something as simple as making an extra cup of coffee, buying an extra breakfast sandwich, or even passing on some clothes you no longer wear. Dr. Franco suggested, “It’s not about you being like, ‘Oh man, now I have to learn how to bake cookies in order to be nice.’ It’s about what skills and talents you already have and how can you turn that into an offering for other people?”

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