Sometimes all it takes is a small act of kindness to make a huge difference in someone’s life.  In this case, that someone was the cutest stray puppy I had ever seen.  As we were exploring the Santorini countryside, we drove by this little guy, heavily panting and visibly dehydrated – it was over 95 degrees out that afternoon.

We pulled our shoddy rental car over and gathered up the rest of our water to help him out.  It was a chore to get him to calm down enough to actually drink at first.  We tried feeding him out of the bottle, our hands, and eventually a custom made puddle on the ground.  After we were finally successful in getting him some nourishment, we gave him a little refreshing shower to further cool him down.  After we ran out of water and the puppy was satisfied, he went to the side of the road, sat down, and began smiling at us.

Watching this 30 minute transformation really was something special.  As trivial as it seemed at the time, looking back now, helping this poor vulnerable puppy was one of the highlights from my past three years living and traveling throughout Europe.  I have no idea what happened to that small puppy, but I often think about him, hoping someone adopted him and is providing a good home.  This random encounter also taught me a lesson; sometimes it just takes a little kindness and compassion to make a world of difference to someone, no matter how small and insignificant that someone might be.

Go out of your way to do something nice for someone this weekend.