“While standing in the check-out line at a supermarket, I observed a woman ahead of me figuring out whether she had enough money to pay for the items she had picked up. There was a gentleman with her. The conversation between them indicated he was an acquaintance who had given her a ride to the supermarket in his vehicle and she, in return, was going to pay for items he wanted from the supermarket. Now it appeared she didn’t have enough money to pay for all they had picked up and she was apologizing to him because they needed to put back some items. She expressed how appreciative she was that he had given her a ride and promised him she would make up for it at another time.

There was nothing extravagant about the scant purchase they were attempting to make and it broke my heart that they couldn’t pay for it. I told the cashier I would pay for the items they were deleting from their order and asked her to ring up the items with my order. The faces of that man and woman lit up as they expressed disbelief that someone was actually doing that for them and they both gushed words of appreciation.”

            Things like participating in charity runs, stair climbs, or swims are fantastic means of motivating yourself to get into shape.  Also, the repetitive movements of ladling food out at a soup kitchen or hammering nails on a Habitat for Humanity site will burn calories and help others, but these are not random act of kindness.  

            A simple and random way for a urban worker to keep their diet in check and help someone in need is to give part of your lunch to one of the many hungry, homeless individuals you pass in the streets on your way to and from lunch.  For example, if you are getting a foot long sub at Subway, but feel satisfied after eating half of the sandwich you can just pass the second half off to a person that could use it.  The individual can only use food to eat, so there is zero spare change uncertain.  Spare change uncertain is what I call it when the person uses your generosity to buy booze or narcotics instead of necessities.  However, by offering part of your meal your diet stays intact while improving the diet of a person in need.

            I will do my best to revive this blog, so feel free to share it with your friends and families because I’m going to request the thoughts and stories of my readers as inspiration.

Thanks,

makeadiff

“I live in the Akron, Canton area and there was a very nice person walking in the Akron area dressed as a clown. What this person was doing was adding a quarter to every parking meter that had a car parked at it. When the police officers found out what he was doing, they arrested him! He spent the night in jail and is now facing charges (just fines).

Started to be a nice act of kindness, but what is the world coming to? That’s why I like your site so much, it’s nice to see that there is still some decency, and beautiful people around.”

-RAK Home Page

The man she had indicated was a person I had seen mainly a time asking people for money and whom was in Burger King to get out of the cold. It was really cool to see a true random act of kindness happen before my eyes no matter how big or small the act is.

One day the resident of the house was walking outside and meet a man digging for can in his trash.  The resident was used to this and thought nothing of it because it became a norm.  The people of the neighborhood never got mad because the can hunters always cleaned up the mess they made during their search.  What caught the resident's attention was the wheel chair the elderly man was in as he was can hunting.  

The resident was rather young and had a bunch of aluminum cans inside his house from a party the night before.  He hurried back inside collected all the cans into one garbage bag (filling it) and rushed outside before the man moved on to the next-door neighbor's.  

The resident felt bad that he couldn't do more, but the man in the wheel chair was thankful for having a full bag of aluminum cans without having to look for them. 

I got an old telephone cord and tied it around the collar as a leash and walked the dog to the on campus police station.  They looked at me like I was crazy to stop and help the animal, but helped me just the same.  I called the number on the tag multiple times and got an answering machine.  

About an hour and a half that I found the dog, the police and I got a hold of the owner’s friend (I can't quite remember how) who was watching the dog.  She came to pick up the animal and thanked me and the campus police. 

Luckily I had a long break between classes at this time, so I didn't miss anything important. 

It all started in a Sausalito, California, restaurant in 1982 when Anne Herbert scrawled the words "practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a place mat. From there it spread to bumper stickers, quietly at first, but with all the powerful momentum of something important–calling us to lives of caring and compassion. Random Acts of Kindness, true stories of acts of kindness, was published in February 1993 and set off a chain reaction. Articles appeared in nearly every newspaper in the U.S., and hundreds of radio stations devoted airtime to the cause. Toward the end of 1993, a Bakersfield, California, professor gave a class assignment to do a random act of kindness–unleashing yet another flood of stories. The concept continues to spread, and we hope it will carry on until the beauty of simple kindness touches–and changes–us all.