I completely agree! Sounds as though we were brought up the same way. When I read of “random acts of kindness” now, most of them are simply things I was taught to always do from my earliest remembrances.
Yesterday, I had a frustrating experience trying to get some info from an insurance company. Logging onto my account had proved impossible, and I was just about at the end of my rope. On about the third phone call to the company, the agent I spoke with was calm, reassuring and friendly. Before I ended the call, I told her what a help she had been and how much I appreciated it. She replied that most of the callers she spoke with weren’t nearly as nice as I was. I then told her that I had worked customer service in the past and realize that one “sour” person can ruin your entire day.
I think it’s important to recognize someone’s kindness and/or efficiency. They seldom get praise for that.

So good and so true! Kindness is really so easy and grows more kindness and love. My parents modeled that so well for us and we have tried to pass that on to our children. Love you!

Yes, kindness is vital and as Dianne mentioned in her comment, it really touches us when we receive it in a situation when we may not have been expected to be treated well. Outside events are always going to be swirling (can you imagine living during the Revolutionary War?) so you’re right, no matter the circumstances], we can always be kind.

Our parents also instilled the importance of kindness in us. I recall in high school being kind to a girl who was bullied and discriminated by the “cool” kids. That act ensured I was cast out of the in crowd but I didn´t care. It is really quite simple and very easy to be kind to others, even if we don´t always agree with them. xo

I love this post. I, too, am a major advocate of kindness. It needn’t be a huge gesture, as you note. But something as simple as “thank you” and a smile or a note dropped in the mail. A phone call. Just listening. All exude kindness. Thank you reminding us to show kindness toward all. Great post! (And, yes, this merits an exclamation mark.)

Holding the door open for the person behind you, or going out of the way to hold the door open for someone with their hands full…that’s a big one for me. Tuesday night one of the kids in band was trying to get a base drum through the classroom door and I got out of my seat, walked all the way across the room and opened up the other door to make the opening wider. Don’t know why people who were on that side of the room hadn’t noticed the struggle. Yesterday I took 6 cookies from the batch I had made the day before over to our 80 year old neighbors. The husband is beginning to struggle with possibly dementia, we don’t know what it is yet…and Rose the wife was so grateful for a bit of, as she calls it, “sweetness” as she said she hasn’t baked since “all this started.” I kind of figured she hadn’t. Now I’ll be taking stuff over there more often. Stuff like this, done automatically, is what helps us all get along.

Kindness, it doesn’t cost anything, sprinkle that shit everywhere!

Kindness just seems to have disappeared sometimes. And I agree with Dianna, what people call random acts of kindness are just simply the things we always used to do, the way we were taught, to have good manners and be respectful of others, and yes, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Just today while walking through a parking lot, hubby and I heard two young women shout obscenities at a person driving through. I made it a point today to just smile at folks and let them go first in line or in the door of a store. Some responded with a thank you, some just didn’t even acknowledge my kindness, but that doesn’t matter. I know in my heart, I did the right thing.

I practiced kindness today by writing a couple of co-workers that have helped me out lately. I love handwritten things and I hope they do, too!

You and Chris model this so well. One thing I appreciate about my employer is that they encourage us to recognize others. We get a small amount of “points” we can award to someone each month. I love giving them away to people across the company.

In the end, on,y kindness matters… I guess, Jewel knew what she was singing about. Being kind is so easy and can have such a huge effect. I strive to be kind and try to teach my children the same.

Kindness is a gift we all have and I agree need to share more. I love lifting people up and I have a hard time understanding people that do the opposite. The Lord put us on on this earth to love one another not to tear down. We do far to much of that in this world now. Thanks for sharing the article.

Just one quibble:

I’m all in favor of more kindness, but I wish our whole culture could lose the crazy idea that just baring your teeth at people is any substitute for doing things that show respect or appreciation for them. I have never, at any time in my life, craved a peek at the teeth of someone who was not actually laughing. I often want to remind people, “If you have to think about what your face is doing, tell it to relax!” Anything is better than that ugly toothy look people get when they’re *telling* themselves to smile.

Instead? Try noticing what the person to whom we want to be kind would actually want from us–although that almost certainly is not a view of our teeth. People who want others to seem “friendly” may want a conversation that shows sincere interest. Others might prefer to be respectfully left alone. Some people don’t want a personal relationship with us but do want to be thanked–or tipped.

But, consider the reactions to Joel Osteen’s toothy face after the Houston hurricane, or that high school twerp’s toothy face at the march in Washington earlier this week…and please, everyone, “Get a Grip on That Grin!”

Kindness counts and you’ve expressed it so well! <3 Sharing…