“Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people,” writes self-help author Karen Salmansohn.
Isn’t that an inspiring and beautiful challenge? Lately, it feels like we are a cynical, hardened people. I want and need to believe in the goodness of people. Don’t you?
In honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week, February 11th-17th, 2018, I’d like to give you a chance to share your stories of kindness and provide you with ideas for how you might create a culture of kindness in your own communities.
As you may know, I have been in Louisiana for the last two weeks, helping my parents during a difficult time in their lives. My mother now lives in a wonderful assisted living facility, and I moved my dad, who has advanced Alzheimer’s disease, into a nursing home last Monday.
So many incredible people have helped the three of us in this transition; I can’t even begin to list the random acts of kindness showered on us. From the salesperson at Walmart who walked me to the exact item I needed for my mom to the aides who sidestep my dad’s diseased insults and blows and treat him with respect and kindness to my cousin who takes her two-year-old grandson to play with my mom and bring a smile to her face to the young girl who made me great smoothies and handed them to me with such kind eyes to my parent’s neighbor who cuts their three acres of grass every week even though they no longer live there… I could go on and on. Just thinking back over these moments makes me cry grateful tears.
Now, it’s your turn. Have you been the fortunate recipient of a random act of kindness? What kind of impact did that have on you? Have you ever performed an act of kindness, large or small? Please share your gratitude for a kindness you have received and/or inspire us with stories about your own kind acts in the comments section below.
Then, visit the Random Acts of Kindness website. On it, you can read the multitudes of kindness stories shared from Random Acts of Kindness Week. In fact, you can share your kindness story on that website, as well as here. You can even register to become a RAKtivist (Random Acts of Kindness activist).
Do you need random acts of kindness ideas? The Random Acts of Kindness website has 116 ideas in many categories, including ideas for being kind to animals, ideas you can do for strangers, and ideas you can do at work. Or, if you’d prefer a year filled with kind acts, download 2018 Kindness Calendars for every month of the year. To get you started, here isFebruary and March.
I challenge you to pick just one kind act to try. See how it feels. If you haven’t experienced your own memorable kind act, tell us the story of which kind act you chose this week and how it impacted you. That’s a story I would love to read.
6 Comments
Peggy Best
Last month my husband and I joined twenty-six friends on a Caribbean cruise. We boarded our bus, rode four hours form our home to the port where we loaded onto the ship. Because I have trouble walking long distances, I rented an electric wheelchair for use both on the ship and off. During the entire cruise people waited patiently allowing me to enter the elevators first. They held the door open so I could maneuver around corners. When I chose to walk instead, people did the same. One experience sticks out in my mind.
My husband and I attended a show on board. I chose to walk. My husband needed to be at another destination, so he climbed up the stairs leaving me waiting with the crowd at the elevator. I felt claustrophobic. I looked up the steps and thought, Gee, I can walk up that flight holding onto the railing.
One clumsy foot in front of the other, teetering on each step and grasping the railing, I slowly climbed. A gentleman and his wife passed, stopped ahead, and returned beside me.
“May I help you up the stairs?” he said. His wife smiled. He took my arm and slowly guided me to the top of the steps. Then they escorted me to my floor before returning to wherever they were to go.
This was not a singular experience for me during that eight day cruise. Often complete strangers smiled, nodded hello, and asked if they could assist in any way. I have found that people want to help and are disappointed if I say no. These acts of kindness not only make my life easier, they make me happy. To pay them forward is the challenge.
I had that opportunity on the last day of the cruise. My husband and I went to the cafeteria for breakfast. The wheelchair stayed in our cabin. We had signed up for special service leaving the ship. The dining area was crowded. There was one open table with seating for eight. I sat while my husband returned to the line for coffee. A family of six stood looking lost trying to find a seat. I noticed that a table for two had opened. The father of the family spoke in a different language to the children and then asked me in halting English if he and his wife and one child could sit with us. I smiled and said “My husband and I will move so you can sit together with your family.” I’m sure these two small acts of kindness made three families happy.
Judi
I also have trouble walking, now finding it necessary to use a cane, and I find the little things people do for me, such as holding a door open, are so gratefully appreciated. I’m sure your trip was lovely and I thank you for sharing with us…
Patricia
Thank you, Peggy, for sharing your experiences with acts of kindness while on your cruise. You rightly point to the many little things that added up to a sense of ease and happiness. What a joyful challenge it is to pay those things forward to another. I love how you put this into practice by changing places with the larger family at breakfast. It just goes to show, kindness is not bound by language or any other barrier, if we choose to show it. I find the examples of “noticing” very powerful in your story, as well. Both the examples of the man and his wife who helped you on the stairs, and you noticing the lost family of six bore out of a willingness to notice the needs of others. What a wonderful reminder of how kindness can begin, simply by noticing those around us.
Margaret
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Judi
There are two kinds of people in this world, givers and receivers. I’ve always been a giver, and most of it has been through random acts of kindness, be it marking the Missal for the person at the next Mass or anonymous gifts. Now, in my old age, I find I am a receiver. Sometimes it’s a turkey around the holidays, or bread left at the front of the park, and even little things are appreciated. It has not been all that easy for me to go from a giver to a receiver, but I am always grateful for whatever God sends my way.
Patricia
Judi, thank you for sharing about the ways you have of given and received, as well as how “the little things” impact you, especially in these later years. Many can relate to the difficulty of shifting from being a giver to a receiver. I am thankful you have embraced it as a sign of God’s care for you.