Will you join in with 20 Acts of Kindness?

No, I don’t need an event like the madness in Connecticut to make me act with kindness.

We would all be better served if we made a point of acting kindly and compassionately to everyone every day, as opposed to reacting – temporarily – to some external event.

I applaud those who are taking the time to do something this week. But I’d rather see an overall movement towards love for their fellow man – something that doesn’t end the day after Christmas.

Thanks for sharing this idea, @SuperMouse. I love paying it forward. But I also very much agree with @elbanditoroso‘s sentiment. Just as Christmas doesn’t end the day after Dec. 25, neither should kindness and compassion.

When you can’t share money or products, you can share what you do have—whether it’s time, listening to someone in trouble who needs to talk, a ride so someone doesn’t have to wait for the bus in the rain or snow, etc. You can invite someone over who doesn’t have anywhere to spend Christmas or New Year’s.

You can: volunteer at a mission or pantry, offer rides to the store to the elderly or infirm, offer to help a neighbor clean their kitchen before the holidays, rake leaves for your mom/dad, etc…there’s no formula for kindness, just treat others as you’d be treated.

I agree that random acts of kindness take precedence over acts done out of a sense of duty or obligation brought on by crisis and tragedy.
I feel the same about not being over attached to holidays, anniversaries and other “traditional,” obligatory, occasions where giving and kindness is seen as a duty rather than an act of free will and authentic altruism. EVERY day lends an opportunity to act in affirmative ways.

A hug and an ear.

There are opportunities that present themselves every day. Helping a mother with her hands full of kids to her car with groceries, thanking the bus driver for a safe trip, not being impatient with the newly-hired temp Holiday season staff. This week, I thanked a man at our tax office for the fact that the tax system runs so smoothly where I live and that I didn’t have to wait even 30 seconds to get in to see someone. He gave me a sincere and surprised smile.

I recently started a job as an substitute for early childhood care and education. Every day, I find dozens of things to do to help the kids in extra ways as well as the staff who do it on a permanent basis. What happened in Connecticut affected a dear friend of mine who lives in the next town over with 4 children of his own. It has made me more mindful, but I don’t know if it will inspire extra. I can’t be that objective about what I do, or, I guess, more to the point, why I do it.

I have never been good at keeping score. Better to just always act like you’re between 15 and 19.

What a lovely idea. I’ll be thinking hard about ways to be kinder.

My act of kindness today will be to give a company that sold me defective merchandise another 24 hours to remedy the situation before I reverse the charges on my credit card.
lol