Since the summer of 2009, people in and around Pittsburgh have been the recipients of kindness from someone they didn’t know. It all started on July 24, 2009, with a hydrangea flower left on a car’s windshield. According to ThePittsburghChannel.com, the gifts were usually small, “like a gift of quarters left at a Laundromat, an inspirational magnet and gift cards.” The only hint was a card that was left behind, one that read “Secret Agent L: All-Around Swell Chick — Specializing in Anonymous Acts of Kindness and Day-Brightening.”
Finally, this past Saturday night, one year after leaving that hydrangea flower, she revealed her identity. “Secret Agent L” is, in fact, Laura Miller, a 32-year-old actress and model who also works at a university in the area. And, in true kindness fashion, she let people know who she was at a fundraiser, one that benefited NAMI, the National Alliance of Mental Illness. Why did she finally spill the beans? As the article notes, she felt “anonymity had limited her efforts to organize in a bigger way.”
See, this actually wasn’t just going on in Pittsburgh. Laura has 80 other “affiliated agents” helping her out around the world, in places as far away as Australia and Denmark. On her Secret Agent L blog, she posts emails and photos from these affiliated agents, reporting back about their missions of kindness. And she’s still looking for affiliated agents, should you be interested.
As to why Miller’s performing these random acts of kindness for people, she’s quoted in the article as saying, “I want them to feel in the present, be aware of this life they’ve been given which is such a gift, and if I can be the person and let them know there is so much in this world that is good and they are good, that made my day.”
Photo by mtsofan via Flickr.