It’s been a very long election and news cycle, extending for years. From our ongoing fatigue over the COVID-19 pandemic, to new variants and vaccine news, to a constant 24/7 media overload of pundits arguing over the recent election, we have seen an increasing division between family members and community members nationwide and growing distrust and uncertainty about how people will behave around each other.
So, where do we go from here? We have no choice than to move forward, and how we choose to move forward will make all the difference.
Why not reconsider exercising some Random Acts of Kindness?
Back in 1982 a writer named Anne Herbert started the Random Acts of Kindness movement that stretched across the globe. Her column in a local paper called, “Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Acts of Senseless Beauty” began the small movement. A few years later, another woman saw the phrase scrawled in graffiti on a warehouse in her neighborhood and shared it with her husband, a middle school teacher, who then shared it with his students. It just happened that one of those students was the daughter of another newspaper columnist who picked up the story, did some research into its origins and wrote about Anne Herbert and her thoughts behind her original article.
The idea grew legs! That developing story was soon picked up by Reader’s Digest and eventually spread across the country, building momentum until it found a day of its own. February 17, 1995 was announced as National Random Acts of Kindness Day. Ordinary people took a concept and made it their own, sharing it and growing it. It took 13 years for it to receive the national recognition it deserves. But for 13 years it was moving through our national conscience making a difference in each and every action.
That was 30 years ago. But truly, kindness knows no day. Kindness requires movement every day! And today, if we have never considered it, is definitely a time to start showing kindness again.
Kindness knows no bounds, but ripples like waves on the water in ever growing circles. It will reverberate, given its chance. It is always possible to do something kind, and kindness is needed in our world more than ever before.
What sounds hard to do is easier than you may think. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is just one individual who spoke of this concept many times, saying even a simple smile can be enough to change the world. As she said, “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” And again, “We will never know how much a simple smile can do.” And yet again, “Peace begins with a smile.”
We are all bustling about in our own worlds. Some working longer and harder than we ever thought we would be. Some retired and trying to capture the best of that dream life we always hoped to achieve. Some of us have become caregivers, giving to others in more demanding and unexpected ways every day. Some of us are languishing in illness or disability. But all of us have the energy to make that one small act: smile.
Just a smile can start to change the world. Just a smile can help you through the grocery store check out line. Just a smile can help you start a conversation. Just a smile can rejuvenate this weary world we live in. A smile can start us back on the track to caring for each other, each and every one of us, regardless of class or station or political opinion.
It’s time to get renewed and rejuvenated, and an action as simple as a smile can do just that. Who knows what one little smile will lead us to do next. Is there something you did today to make our world a little brighter? What’s one thing you can do today to get started?
Barb Nadeau is a freelance writer, whose career has included more than 10 years as a public relations professional, 22 years as a professional television and radio host, print journalist, and volunteer coordination professional, networking among non-profit social service agencies and service providers throughout the State of Illinois. She is a two-term elected alderman in the City of Plano. Contact Barb at bvnadeau@gmail.com