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Sunday, January 3, 2010

Random Acts of Kindness, or Pay It Forward


“I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, Or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, Let me do it now, as I shall not pass this way again.”


One thing I want to do in 2010 is to practice doing Random Acts of Kindness more. I’ve done a few paying for the customer in line behind me at Starbucks drive through and that was fun. I’ve done a few other things in the past too, but this post isn’t about me bragging. It’s a new commitment to consciously being aware of the opportunity for new and inventive ways of practicing random acts of kindness. I’d like to encourage all my blogging friends to add this to the list of new year’s resolutions, if you made any.

Call it “Pay if Forward” or “Random Acts of Kindness” it all boils down to being kind to our fellow man/woman and blessing someone who probably - by society’s standards - doesn’t deserve it. That’s what makes it an act of kindness! I really loved the movie “Pay it Forward” (ok, I’m not crazy about what happened to the kid, but…) and if you haven’t, rent it and watch it, then come up with something to DO. I’d love to hear about it, so please come back and let me know…or e-mail me so I can do a whole post at the end of the year of our actions! Neat, eh?


Oh, and along the lines of “Pay It Forward”, I was surfing today and came across someone talking about making tags. Briefly, here is how the process works: People make tag cards. Commit an act of kindness. Give the person a tag card which asks the stranger to do another act of kindness. Kind of a tactile “Pay It Forward”. (I thought that was neat but I’m not sure if I’ll employ that idea, just sharing in case you wanted to)

I would love it if at the end of the year we have a great RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) party, wouldn’t you?

Let me know your thoughts!

13 comments:

  1. I loved that movie too. Very thought provoking, didn't you think?

    I'd love to see a huge internet group involved with random acts of kindness....paying it forward. I'd join!

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  2. Sounds like a great idea to me. A few years ago sometimes on my lunch hour I would be driving home for lunch and there would be a random women walking home from the store with little kids and heavy grocery bags and I had this huge Ford Explorer with lots of room so I would pull over and offer to give them a ride. You have no idea how happy and relieved these women were! I know that you might think that's a very unsafe thing to do, but I always made sure it was a woman with children and nothing ever happened to me. Once I dropped them off I had such a wonderful feeling knowing I had helped someone who had so totally not expected me to do so. It would be great in 2010 to find something like that to do again. Thanks for bringing that memory up for me. And I received HOPE! I love her. Please come and see the post and pictures of Hope.

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  3. I don't know if this is considered Random or not. I call the nursing home every year and adopt 15 residents. The ones that never get any visits. I send a little money, packages and cards all year long. In December I sign the cards from Santa, January from Father Time, etc

    I also keep MREs in my car. They are meals ready to eat. I give them to random homeless people. They have everything in them, high in calories, tissues, forks, etc.

    Great idea to do this.

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  4. L.O.V.E. It Forwrd - www.loveitforwrd.com

    A United World - www.aunitedworld.org

    Host a Pass It Forwrd Event - www.aunitedworld.org/pioevent.asp

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  5. Very cool idea! I need to think of things that I can do.

    At Christmastime, the lady in front of my mil at Walmart paid for everything that my mil had bought. She just stayed at the end of the checkout aisle, acting like she was still gathering her stuff, and then she left after she got it all paid. It was over $100 worth of stuff! Isn't that amazing?

    I need to think of things to do that don't cost very much, though. ;)

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  6. One of my goals for 2010 is to just be kinder, so this certainly falls into that category! I've paid for things for people, not $100 like the post above, but little things. It does make me feel good to give a little bit of kindness to someone else! You never know, you may be the miracle someone needs today!

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  7. Great blog! Passing by through SITS. Now a proud new follower on Networked Blogs and Google Friends!

    My act of kindness is to donate expired and unused coupons to military families overseas. Here is my post on it if anyone is interested!

    http://thefrugalkennedys.blogspot.com/2009/12/operation-coupons.html

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  8. Wow you guys!!!! This is fantastic! I'm so thrilled to see so many who are "in" on this, and have already been practicing it! So many great acts of kindess (I love it!) This is going to be some party, isn't it? And - if you haven't noticed it, one comment from Arlan gave some other websites. I'm checking them out now, so if y'all find more, please come back to the comments and post them too so we can all go there.
    Thanks again you all and, let's be kind to one another!

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  9. Sweetjeanette,

    I agree! I will be keeping up on all these wonderful and thoughtful ideas! What a BRILLIANT way to start the New Year off right!

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  10. Stopping by from SITS!

    Just wanted to let you know about my button swap and the chance for your blog to be featured! Check it out:
    http://singing-in-the-rain24.blogspot.com/2009/12/button-swap.htm

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  11. Stopping by from SITS! I just wrote a post about this very thing and I have something to do! I hope you check it out!!! And hope that everyone else who stops by here helps Dawn and I out!

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  12. I think that's such a great idea! I always like to try and be aware of things I can do for other people.

    Actually, though, sometimes people don't want things done for them. Once I was eating at Denny's and decided randomly that since I had a bit of extra cash I'd pay for someone else's meal. I chose a table, told their server I'd like to pay for their meal, paid, and then started to head out. The family caught up with me in the parking lot (apparently they'd asked their server who paid for their meal) and they literally ripped me a new one (for lack of a better term). They wanted to know where I got off thinking I could just pay for their meal, why I did it, etc. I was so shocked I burst into tears! I was just doing something I thought was nice -- heck, I'd LOVE it if someone bought me a meal!

    I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, though. That definitely shouldn't dissuade people from doing good deeds! Just remember that sometimes the intended effect isn't what ends up happening :D

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  13. It does not surprise me at all that you would pay for someone else in line at the coffee shop.

    Happy New Year!

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I love your sweet comments and read them all. Please let me know you were here!

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