This article originally appeared in The Orlando Sentinel, Dec. 21, 2015

A new employee shows up at work wearing a headscarf, which shows only eyes, but no one goes out of his or her way to greet her. She has a life different than our own and worships in ways we don’t understand.

Plus, it’s challenging to communicate — we miss those subtle facial expressions.

So you talk to her. You say: “If you need anything, just ask.” You offer an insider tip on office operations. It’s a small act of kindness.

In the film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey discovers what it would be like if he had never been born. He sees how his actions molded people in his life.

While fantasy, it’s not an illusion. People hoard feelings that impacted them in good and bad ways, like the overbearing father, the encouraging teacher, the fifth-grade bully or the comforting stranger.

These small acts stick. They matter.

The result of small acts

• One person feels better for a few seconds; 99 percent of the time, this is it. It may not make someone’s day, but it can make someone’s half-hour.

• In an office of 10 people, two may see you connect with a stranger and their latent kindness will come through because you broke the ice.

• Your children pick up on it. You treat a homeless man with compassion. You talk to him. You don’t balk, and you don’t ignore. Children live what they see.

• Nothing happens. Your small act is a waste of time. A person doesn’t feel better; no one noticed; your children didn’t see it. Do it anyway.

Why small acts matter

• They matter to you. We consider ourselves good people, but “being good” requires deeds. If an act of kindness warms your heart, it helped someone — it helped you.

• If an act of kindness fell on deaf ears, perhaps the next one won’t. “Acts of kindness” is a lifestyle. If 99 acts of kindness crash and burn, maybe the 100th will change the world.

• If 100 people perform acts of kindness, perhaps only one improves the human race. If it takes 100 people performing 100 acts to succeed, keep being kind, even if your personal act didn’t broker that better deal for humanity.

• Thousands of small acts, unnoticed in their microscopic simplicity, could steer a single child toward success and long-term happiness.

Advocates who pushed for equality — Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Harvey Milk — knew that it wasn’t a one-group-versus-another war. It’s a human-race struggle. They saw value within individuals, not the stereotype of the masses. And each act of kindness is a success story.

Small acts of kindness don’t exist. An act of kindness is never small.

© 2015 SmithTakes.com