10 ideas for acts of kindness
Give care packs to the homeless
Donate used books to a library
Help someone with yardwork
Return a shopping cart
Help someone load or unload groceries
Thank your police or fire department
Study with a classmate
Be a friend who listens
Pick up trash
Donate blood
*Source: The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, staff reporter
What have you done for someone else lately?
If you answered not much, there’s still a chance to redeem yourself.
Tuesday is World Kindness Day, which kicks off a week of opportunities for would-be do-gooders.
Indeed, coming off a contentious presidential campaign that seemed to drag on forever and dealing with the everyday stress of work and Atlanta traffic, we can all use a little more tenderness.
“We hope that people are kind every day of the year, but this is the one day of the year when we can celebrate and give people an excuse to do something a little extra,” said Brooke Jones, manager of the Colorado-based The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.
Even when there is a major disaster such as Hurricane Sandy, for example, stories emerge about heroes and acts of kindness. “Those stories fall a little bit down the list,” she said, “but they’re the ones that inspire people.”
There seems to be some debate (not bitter, of course) over who started World Kindness Day. Jones says it began in the mid-1990s with her organization. Most accounts, though, say World Kindness Day was initiated at the General Assembly of the World Kindness Movement.
“It’s immaterial really,” Cesar Balota, associate general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement, said in an email. If there are multiple movements and multiple observation days to celebrate doing good, he said, “that would be the kindest thing, don’t you think?”
If you’re looking for ways to practice charitable behavior, there’s no shortage of sources and opportunities. There are books and websites about kindness. There’s Random Acts of Kindness Day, World Kindness Day and Pay It Forward Day.
Kindness proponents say it doesn’t cost anything to be nice.
“Kindness begets kindness,” Australia’s Michael Lloyd-White, general secretary of the World Kindness Movement, said in an email. “We hope it highlights the good will in all communities, giving them a focal point to celebrate, recognize and promote kindness — a gentle nudge and reminder that we are and can be better.”
You can help someone load his or her groceries in the car, allow an impatient driver to merge into your lane or write a note to someone who’s had a big influence on your life.
There’s a certain feel-good moment that touches the giver and the receiver.
“When you do something really good, you know it,” said Hanoch McCarty, co-author of “Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference.”
“Even if nothing comes back to you,” McCarty said, “you’ve already got the reward just knowing you’ve done something for someone else.”
Micki Esposito, a principal broker at Atlanta-based Lhuillier Fine Properties, often practices acts of kindness. She’s bought groceries for people and once paid the rent for a stranger she met at Wal-Mart. Esposito said such acts are unplanned.
“God says you are to help your brother,” Esposito said. “It’s not hard. You have to make it a way of life. I try to be a blessing to others if I can because so many people have helped me along the way.”
When Percy Brooks III, a small-business owner from Lithonia, heard media reports about a young girl who was shot to death in her home, he immediately thought of his own daughter who died at 16 days old from Trisomy 13, a chromosome disorder.
He reached out to the family and made a donation to help cover funeral costs. He’s donated money to help others, often anonymously.
“It’s just doing God’s work,” he said. “I know it’s good to help people.”
About the Author
