Random Acts of Kindness

I listen to K-Love for my daily dose of Contemporary Christian music. This radio station focuses on positive news around the world. The other day a news jockey read the following story about a pastor's kind offer and his decision to start the "365 Club" on Facebook:

http://www.christianpost.com/church/General/2009/01/pastor-s-story-of-kindness-sparks-idea-for-365-club-05/index.html

Basically, he wants people who join the club to perform a random act of kindness every day for a year. I found that intriguing, although I don't do Facebook. Anyway, members in this club post their good deeds for others to read. I'm not sure if that's positive or not. On the one hand, some people might provide examples of kind acts that others might not have thought of. It sounds a little too much like tooting your own horn, however, which seems counterintuitive to the point of the movement.

I know the term "random acts of kindness" has been around for years, but I appreciate that this man is bringing it to the forefront of people's minds again. Perhaps hundreds of people who heard this news story will now make a conscious effort to be a more positive force in the world. And those hundreds of people may inspire thousands of others to do the same.

In a similar vein, Liberty Mutual Insurance has a terrific ad campaign using the notions of both "random acts of kindness" and "pay it forward." They have several different commercials showing how one person's small, positive action can have a linear or ripple effect on others.

So how about a non-Facebook challenge? Commit a random act of kindness every day. Don't brag about it. Just do it. And if later in the day you cut someone off in traffic, or commit some other such human frailty, do an extra kindness to offset it.

You never fully know the effect that your life, your words, your actions - positive or negative - have on others, whether they're family, friends, neighbors or strangers.

Stories of violence, injustice, and abuse abound. Let's follow the example of this pastor and try to turn that around. Every day. And in small ways.