“I firmly believe in small gestures: pay for their coffee, hold the door for strangers, over tip, smile or try to be kind even when you don’t feel like it, pay compliments, chase the kid’s runaway ball down the sidewalk and throw it back to him, try to be larger than you are— particularly when it’s difficult. People do notice, people appreciate. I appreciate it when it’s done to (for) me. Small gestures can be an effort, or actually go against our grain (“I’m not a big one for paying compliments…”), but the irony is that almost every time you make them, you feel better about yourself. For a moment life suddenly feels lighter, a bit more Gene Kelly dancing in the rain.” Jonathan Carroll (born 1949);Author

Aren’t these great words to start the week off? I think so and I bet a lot of my readers will think so as well.

If there is anything that I have learned in my 60 years of life on this planet it is that everyone has worth and value and almost everyone appreciates a kind gesture. There are a few I have encountered that have dismissed a kindness but that is rare.

So why wouldn’t we be kind?

The weird thing about this pandemic is that it is not as easy to extend physical type of kindnesses to others. I have noticed that people don’t hold doors open as much. A simple thing but something that I always do. But now we have to be so careful. If you have to be in an elevator you let others go alone. You wait for an empty elevator so that the potential for germs is limited.

Extending kindness during the pandemic is especially important. During the start of the spread in the spring there was a lot of attention given to all of the healthcare and service providers. Rightfully so. But we should not let up. As schools have opened in many places the support for staff there is so important. Care center workers who have seen the pandemic rage through their facilities are bone tired. Cases pop back up and they have to close down visitation and that means upset family members who don’t always think before they speak.

I paid for the people behind me in line at Starbucks last week and told the barista to put what was left in the tip jar. She was incredulous but it felt good to do something fairly anonymously. I know a lot of people do this as I have been the recipient several times. It doesn’t have to be a big gesture. Right now I think any gesture is a good one.

Join me this week and make a small gesture of kindness. Let’s start a Kindness Pandemic. Tell me, what do you plan to do this week? Share it in the comments and remember that each comment made means a 50 cent donation to our Comments for a Cause – In the Pink.