Practicing kindness

There is a lot of anger out there. Anger about politics, economics, social issues and stuff that you didn’t think people would get angry about.

Anger can be important. It provides energy to make needed changes. However, while we all have bouts of anger, we should not forget the power and the need for random acts of kindness.

I have received and given countless random acts of kindness over the years. Holding a door open for someone. Letting someone know that they dropped something. Complimenting a person. Soothing a child who has scraped her knee. Visiting someone who is sick.

Over the centuries, various philosophers and writers have promoted these acts. Aesop said, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Mark Twain said, “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Goethe noted that “Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.”

The term “random acts of kindness” was coined in 1982 by Anne Herbert. She wrote an article with the title “practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.”

The word “random” would imply that these acts are unorganized and spontaneous. They happen because people are basically nice. There is certainly a randomness to these acts. However, there are notable organized efforts to promote random acts.

In 1998, the World Kindness Movement (which has 28 countries, including the US, as members)

established World Kindness Day. While the official date is several months out, you don’t need to wait to be kind to someone.

There is a Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. You can join the Foundation and become a RAKtivist which is short for Random Acts of Kindness activist. You must apply to be a RAKtivist. The application is simple, but it does include some essay questions such as “Kindness starts with …” There are currently 45,884 RAKtivists from 89 countries.

The Foundation has all kinds of resources to help you be an outstanding RAKtivist. These resources include examples of acts of kindness in a kid’s book published by the Kindness at Home Program.

Next time I give a random act of kindness, and the recipient says thank you, I will say, “No problem. I am a RAKtivist who is practicing the words of the great philosopher Publius Syrus, ‘You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.’”

The recipient will be glad that I am harmless.

Be kind to someone today. You will feel good about it as will they. And, despite the anger that we all feel at times, the world will be a better place.