Let's Start a Movement

A holiday idea from Nancy Ware and Loren Hickman

We are seniors, enjoying our retirement, and reveling in the choices and options we have to chill out and plan nothing more than doing the crossword puzzle and letting the day unfold, or jumping in with both feet to volunteer, travel or tap dance. If we were to die tomorrow, at our age, people would say, "They lived long and happy lives..." ... and we have.

However, looking around us, the world this year seems gloomier. There is less room for optimism. The "Yes We Can" mantra of just two years ago is no longer on the lips of many of us --young and old. Cynicism has replaced belief in our leaders. Many of our children are struggling, trying to build a future for themselves and their new families, but it's not easy. The longest war in our history wages with little likelihood of success. There are Demons in the world.

But there are also Angels.

With this thought in mind, Loren and I talked about what part we might play in making the world a better place. Almost simultaneously we said, "Practice Random Acts of Kindness." We loved the idea and have decided to make the week after Thanksgiving a special time. Every day we will do a random act of kindness in some form. We could put a quarter in an expired meter; we could wrap some homemade cookies up with a cheery note and give it to someone; we could offer to pay for the coffee of the stranger standing in line behind us and, when she asked why, tell her about our random act of kindness campaign.

We talk about the Power of One - What if there were a cadre of Angels? What if everyone reading this invited all of their friends to think about doing random acts of kindness for one week? Could all the individuals together make a difference?

Could we transform at least the week after Thanksgiving intoseven days that would be tangibly filled with more kindness? Could we double, quadruple, and geometrically magnify kindness? What would the accumulated effect be?

We need your help to get the word out. Can you help us use technology to get this message out across the city, the state, the nation, the world? ( Facebook, Twitter, emails to friends, etc.) What if everyone in the world were given an opportunity to do one act of kindness each day over one week's time?

OMG! Wouldn't that be amazing?

Let's proclaim together: The week of November 29-December 4th will be

"The Week of Random Acts of Kindness."

PS: If you do this and have stories you want to share, post a comment on this blog or email me at nanwebware@sbcglobal.net and I will compile them.

PPS: For ideas, take a look at CreateTheGood.org, a great site established by AARP giving ways of how we can help others.