Do a Grouch a Favor — Be Kind!

It seems like there is a “National Day” for everything. I decided to do a little research. After a quick Google Search, nationaldaycalendar.com came up.

I was right! According to the website, there is a National Day every day of the week! And many days have more than one.

February 13th, for instance, is Cheddar Day, Tortellini Day, and Pork Rind Day. That sounds like a bellyache, but I might participate.

February 16th is National Do a Grouch a Favor Day (that’s more my speed, haha). I wish that were on a Monday; ask anyone on the North Forty Staff; I’m a grouch on Mondays.

February 17th stuck out. That’s National Random Acts of Kindness Day. When I thought more about it, I remembered at least three instances where I received a random act of kindness in recent years.

One year, I was in line for coffee, and when I went to pay, the cashier told me the person in front of me had already paid. When I went to say thank you, they had already left. There were no expectations of receiving a Thank You. I was intrigued, and I later bought coffee four separate times for four other people.

Random Acts of Kindness create a ripple effect. One act of kindness turns into many more. And it just feels good.

I suggest trying to do it every day. Even just once a day. Can you imagine if everyone did that? I believe we would all feel like we live in a better world.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has a nifty feature on their website at randomactsofkindness.org. You can sign up for a text message every day to “help make kindness the norm. “

I have said it before; North Forty News is a solution-driven publication. So, maybe one solution to make our area a better place would be to publish a Random Act of Kindness calendar every week! I’m doing it.

It could be simple things, like handing a stranger change out of your pocket for part of their groceries. Or knock on a neighbor’s door (to say hi) or take them some cookies. Another idea I saw was to hand a stranger a $5 gift card to your favorite local store or give it to a friend and ask them to give it to someone else. The key is to be random. Random Acts of Kindness are memorable.

I make it a point to hold the door open for people when I’m at a store, especially at the post office. Someone almost always has packages, and how awesome is it to have someone hold the door for you, so you aren’t dropping things.

Do you have ideas or stories about Random Acts of Kindness? If you do, email them to [email protected]. We might publish them!