Reversing the Decline of Kindness
Is There a Decline in Kindness?
100 Ways to Bring it Back
I hope there are readers of this post that would beg to differ with me and have witnessed or performed shining examples of kindness. Unfortunately, the older I grow, the less kindness I see. My observations have shown me that as a society, we appear to have lost our willingness or desire to extend our hands to offer help to strangers.
Maybe it’s a fear of getting involved where we feel we shouldn’t be, or perhaps we think we will be offending someone. Whatever our reason, we seem to be uncomfortable with the society that we ourselves created. Would you come to the aid of a lost child without the fear of someone thinking you caused the child’s trauma? Would you come to the aid of someone in trouble, who is being robbed, or if you witnessed a crime, without the fear of being targeted yourself? How many times do you witness a stranger give up their seat for an elderly person or pregnant woman? When was the last time you knocked on the door of an elderly neighbor or over-burdened mom and asked if you could pick them up something while you were out grocery shopping? These are questions that we should be asking ourselves: even if it means we are troubled with the honesty of our own answers.
100 Ways to Bring it Back
I hope there are readers of this post that would beg to differ with me and have witnessed or performed shining examples of kindness. Unfortunately, the older I grow, the less kindness I see. My observations have shown me that as a society, we appear to have lost our willingness or desire to extend our hands to offer help to strangers.
Maybe it’s a fear of getting involved where we feel we shouldn’t be, or perhaps we think we will be offending someone. Whatever our reason, we seem to be uncomfortable with the society that we ourselves created. Would you come to the aid of a lost child without the fear of someone thinking you caused the child’s trauma? Would you come to the aid of someone in trouble, who is being robbed, or if you witnessed a crime, without the fear of being targeted yourself? How many times do you witness a stranger give up their seat for an elderly person or pregnant woman? When was the last time you knocked on the door of an elderly neighbor or over-burdened mom and asked if you could pick them up something while you were out grocery shopping? These are questions that we should be asking ourselves: even if it means we are troubled with the honesty of our own answers.
Whatever our reasons, the idea of kindness seems to have been lost in the bustle of a busier, more private society, which the effects of are saddening.
Here is where I challenge you to start the circle of kindness, and offer ways to create the light that should be found at the end of the tunnel. I would love to experience more kindness as I go thru my day. I would love society to rediscover their humanity and create communities where you are not surprised by an out stretched hand of compassion and kindness. Help me start the chain of kindness.
How are we going to make these changes in society? One simple act of kindness at a time…
100 Simple Ideas to Recreate a Kind Society: Random Acts of Kindness
- Look for opportunities to give out compliments.
- Create gift baskets for struggling families or elderly neighbors. You can bake some quick breads or cookies and go to the Dollar Store for some little treats. It would probably touch their hearts, especially around the holidays.
- Purchase a couple of umbrellas, blankets, and/or ponchos at a dollar store, and keep them in your trunk. When it's a cold or rainy day, find a person who needs it (try a bus stop) and give them one.
- Seek out an opportunity to help someone every day.
- If you know someone is overwhelmed – perhaps by a new baby, family health issues, or something else – give them a call when you’re going out to the store.
- Grab some neighborhood kids or friends and offer to rake leaves from the yard of someone who maybe couldn’t do this themselves.
- You can do the same again in winter when it snows. Then you can all gather for hot chocolate when you’re done and enjoy the task you completed.
- When it’s summer and hot, hand out cold Gatorade to your mail carrier and garbage men. When it’s freezing outside offer hot chocolate to crossing guards, police officers and others.
- Take flowers to a nurse’s station in the hospital or nursing home.
- Think of the amazing people who have touched your life and write them a genuine letter letting them know how much they are appreciated in your life. Send it to them thru mail or email.
- Become pen pals with a senior in a nursing home who perhaps doesn’t have local family any more.
- When you get great service tell the person who helped you. Then, tell a manager. Go to the corporate web site and submit an email. Most only communicate when there is a problem. Be the one who changes that.
- When people are gossiping about someone, be the person to chime in with something nice or put an end to the discussion.
- Check in on people. If you notice someone is behaving differently, you haven’t seen them on social media recently, and / or you are just concerned, send them a message or email and let them know you were thinking of them.
- Leave money on a vending machine for someone
- Serve lunch, dinner or a holiday meal at a homeless shelter
- Do a 5k for a good cause. ACTIVE is a great place to look for these events.
- Help at a veterinarian office or animal shelter
- Pick up litter on the beach
- Let someone go in front of you in line
- Give a stranger a compliment
- Insert coins into someone’s parking meter
- Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you
- Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant
- Write letters to soldiers
- Donate Christmas gifts to an orphanage
- Participate in a fundraiser or help create one
- Use your allowance or a percentage of your paycheck to donate to a charity
- Thank a teacher with a gift
- Donate your old clothes to the Salvation Army or other charity
- Walk a neighbor’s dog
- Babysit for free
- Plant a tree
- Do a favor without asking for anything in return
- Take someone new in your neighborhood on a tour of the city
- Buy an ice cream cone for a child
- Learn to say hello in a different language to different people
- Send Valentine’s Day cards to everyone in your class or all your co-workers
- Spend a day at a homeless shelter
- Bring in donuts or bake for your co-workers
- Water a neighbor’s lawn/flowers
- Give someone a gift card that you don’t intend to use
- Wash someone’s car
- Read to kids at the library for story time
- Plan a surprise birthday party for someone
- Leave your waiter a generous tip
- Start mentoring a younger child
- Spend time with your grandparents
- Make a family member breakfast in bed
- Hold the elevator for someone
- Pay for someone’s dry cleaning
- Pack someone a lunch for the day
- Write a kind or encouraging message on a napkin
- Do a sibling’s chores without them asking
- Offer to take a shopper’s cart to the line outside
- Help someone who has a flat tire
- Let someone else pick what to watch on TV
- Send care packages to soldiers overseas
- Take the day not to complain
- Write a list of things that you adore about a friend
- Pay for someone’s morning coffee
- Participate in BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK for a child
- Instead of posting negativity online, spread some encouragement
- Share your favorite Bible verses or quote and post them to the company billboard
- Give up your seat on the bus to another person
- Pay for someone’s bus/cab fare
- Offer someone your pen
- Lend a friend a favorite book/movie
- Take your younger siblings out to play in the rain
- Take the time to appreciate the sunrise and sunset with someone special
- Write someone an encouraging poem
- Send coloring books to sick kids in the hospital
- Celebrate your own best friend appreciation day
- Help tutor a struggling student
- Pay for another student’s lunch
- Offer to give a friend a ride home
- Take the time to listen to someone
- Recycle things that you see on the road
- Help sick animals find homes
- Donate blankets to a homeless shelter
- Feed the birds in the park
- Leave some change on a wishing fountain
- Help out the janitors at school
- Donate your hair after a haircut
- Give your umbrella to a stranger
- Volunteer to work some overtime at your job
- Ride your bike or walk to work
- Offer compliments to strangers and friends and family
- Buy your waiter/waitress dessert
- Wash a neighbor’s dog for free
- Buy groceries for the person behind you
- Reconnect with old friends
- Hide money in random places for strangers to find
- Help someone find a job.
- Leave an inspirational note in a library book
- Donate food to a food pantry
- Become a big brother or big sister. Go sign up now: Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
- Donate your old eyeglasses so someone else can use them.
- Join a kindness challenge
- Be kind to yourself!
We can be the change we want to see. Challenge yourself to bring back kindness and create a kinder society. It All Start With You.
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