Sound of Surviving Blog

I remember in elementary school, my school had a Random Acts of Kindness award. Every month, teachers would nominate students for this award for doing kind things like holding the door open for a teacher or classmate, helping a classmate pick up something they dropped, and for other helpful and kind things.

It’s funny how now that we’re older, everyone is in such a rush, all of the time, and no one really goes out of their way that much to help anyone, let alone to be kind. Occasionally, we will go out of our way to hold the door for the person behind us, or let a car turn out ahead of us on the road, but more often than not, we are too caught up in our own lives, too rushed, to go out of our way for, let alone notice those around us. But just because we don’t get awarded or recognized as adults for being kind, like we were as kids, doesn’t mean we should stop being kind.

Plus, as adults, we’re so worried about what other people will think of us if we just say something that might seem too random, let alone say something random to a stranger. So we just don’t say anything at all. One of my favorite things is telling someone I love their shirt (and yes, I always do really mean it), and seeing their faces light up, even if just for a few seconds.

Imagine what a better place our world would be if everyone just did one tiny nice thing for someone else, once a week. If only we would take our blinders off, and look around at those around us. I know for me, I’ve had times when someone holding the door open for me has made my entire day seem so much brighter. It doesn’t have to be something crazy like buying a meal for someone (although it could be), it could be doing something as simple as complimenting someone on their outfit. Kindness has the tendency to start a chain effect. If you go just a little out of your way to do one nice thing for somebody else, you might just have to power to brighten not just one person’s day, but a whole string of people’s days. No, you probably won’t end world hunger or homelessness, but kindness, no matter how small, still helps to make the world a better place. What if we start living like children again, with kindness in our hearts?

  No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Here are some acts of kindness, small & large you can do:

1. Hold the door for the person behind you
2. Compliment someone
3. Wish someone a good day
4. Tell someone you love their outfit or their hair looks amazing today
5. Send someone a card, for no special occasion other than to say hello
6. Call someone (moms especially love getting phone calls from their children, for no reason!)
7. Send someone a “Hey, how are you? I was just thinking of you” message
8. Buy a candy bar for someone & leave it in their purse or bag, or on their desk.
9. Make dinner for someone
10. Pay for the person behind you in the drive-through
11. Buy groceries for someone