Celebrate Kindness

In 1879, the U.S. declared the birthday of the first U.S. President George Washington birthday as a federal holiday and later it morphed into a joint celebration for the 16th President Abraham Lincoln.

That holiday now called Presidents' Day was celebrated yesterday and was a holiday for many school children, USPS and bank employees and others as well as a day of sales.

But, what I didn't know was that since the mid 1990s, the date of February 17, has been celebrated as Random Acts of Kindness Day in the U.S.

In a post last Friday, I noted that Random Acts of Kindness week started on Feb 9, so my timing for the post was a bit late.

It's never too late to celebrate kindness.

A day after that post, Sandra (MadSnapper blog) posted about having experienced two unexpected acts of kindness. Sadly, the same day she learned of the death of her dear friend, Jackie. Sandra mentioned she later read my post that mentioned random acts of kindness. She believes the ones she received earlier helped her heart process her friend's passing. 

Tom, my friend

I know how Sandra felt receiving with such news as today I received a call from his niece that my friend,Tom, had passed in his sleep a few days ago. His niece, Georgie, shared how much it meant to him that Tom and I kept in contact, although we hadn't seen one another since college, by  phone calls, text messages and cards. I remember that years ago, Tom's Christmas greeting would be the first one received and always had a poem about friendship. As his health declined, he no longer sent cards. Every holiday season, I remembered and made sure to send him the first holiday card, although I didn't have the poem.

What's the point of this post?

Quite simply it's that kindness comes in so many forms and costs little. 

We never truly know when a kind word or act will help us or others. I believe that unseen angels are all around. And, I am sure, that many of us have practiced and experienced kindness in small or big ways, like: saying hello to someone on the street or in an elevator, giving a compliment, letting someone go ahead of you in a line, donating to a charity, listening to someone, volunteering, writing a letter, calling someone, thanking someone, sending cards for no special reason — the list is endless . . .

Learning More

The Random Acts of Kindness movement started over 40 years ago in the San Francisco Bay Area when, in 1982, writer, editor and activist Anne Herbert wrote the phrase random kindness and senseless acts of beauty  which, according to some accounts, was reportedly based on the workind random acts of violence and senseless acts of cruelty. 

Herbert also wrote an article about random kindness in a 1982 article in CoEvolution Quarterly (1974-1985), a journal descended from the Whole Earth Catalog. This was an American counterculture magazine/product catalog published and edited by Stewart Brand from 1968 to 1972 which focused on product reviews, but also featured essays and articles. 

After Herbert's article appeared, the kindness movement spread in surrounding communities.

In 1991, a CA woman saw the phrase written on a wall in her neighborhood. She shared it with her  teacher husband who then shared it with his students. One of those students was the daughter of a San Francisco Chronicle columnist, who wrote about Herbert and the phrase. The article was picked up nationally by Reader’s Digest and later reprinted by the editors of Conari Press, a small Berkeley, CA publishing company founded in 1987 and known for releasing titles dealing with spirituality, personal growth, parenting and social issues.

 

Inspired by the phrase and those involved in the movement, in 1993 Conari Press published a children's book, Random Acts of Kindness, written by Anne Herbert that highlighted true stories of acts of kindness. Readers of the book, and followers of the phrase, began creating local Random Acts of Kindness Days. (Herbert died in CA in 2015 at age 65; however, copies of the book are still available for purchase online.)

 

In February 1995, the first national Random Acts of Kindness Day happened with participants coast-to-coast. Conari Press funded and facilitated this initial event. 

 

That same year, the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Foundation was created in the CA Bay Area to facilitate future celebrations. These would occur annually during Valentine’s Day week in February. 

While, I couldn't find an exact timeframe, online articles indicated that within a short time, the RAK foundation was purchased by a private foundation and relocated to Denver, CO. Now, this small non-profit organization invests resources in making kindness the norm by inspiring and facilitating kindness through free resources that focus on schools, workplaces, homes and communities. 

Donations Not Accepted

According to its website, the foundation does not do grant money and neither does it accept donations, but is privately endowed. It provides online resources for individuals to create kindness in their own communities, but does not offer facilitated opportunities. Digital materials are found at its website: www.randomactsofkindness.org

There's Another Kindness Day 

A similar annual celebration is held November 13 when World Kindness Day is celebrated to promote awareness of global goodwill by encouraging people to perform acts of kindness. Introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, it's observed worldwide.

Now, I know the rest of the story and so do all of you

Kindness is contagious — pass it on.