Random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty

I read about this in Reader's Digest many years ago. It is a movement that is meant to attempt to redress the balance of the cruelty and violence/vandalism that has become so prevalent in the world we live in now.

Random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty is the exact opposite of ...random acts of cruelty and senseless acts of vandalism. Here's how it works...

Leave a dollar bill in a library book. The person who next borrows the book is the "victim" of a random act of kindness.  Or next time you are going through a toll booth pay for the next car too. These little kindnesses brighten someones day and puts them in a better mood and could change the type of day they were going to have for the better- they might do the same at some time in the future, passing along a good feeling.

Next autumn- as a senseless act of beauty,  I am going to throw dozens of daffodil bulbs into the ditches along the highway from Dublin to Leitrim (I wont be driving by the way, I will be a passenger) Next Spring some of them will bloom and, I hope, brighten the journey for who knows how many people who spot an unexpected daffodil in an unexpected place. Daffodils are great as they will grow anywhere and I tried this in a ditch near my house and they grew!

There is a lot of ugliness and beauty in this world. People make the ugliness so, it must follow that other people with a will to do so can make beauty - right? (Please feel free to copy and paste this piece and put on your blog to spread the word)

So - you get the idea? Angie (The Old Schoolhouse) and I are going to organize a giveaway for the best idea for these acts. Just leave a comment with your idea. I will post details of the giveaway in the next few days but it will definitely include some exceptional handmade cards, and a hand crocheted pair of white bedroom slippers, a tiny Beleek dish, a Celtic bookmark and a shamrocks covered marmalade jar. That is one giveaway, Update: Giveaway 2 is : some handmade cards, handmade Galway fine porcelain trinket box, tiny framed wildflowes of Ireland, Small teapot with shamrocks, two embroidered chairbacks and a rose soap.

Comments

[Colleen]

This is such a great idea! Someimtes, all we hear about is what's wrong with the world - all the bad stuff. It's so good to hear there are people like you & Angie who will take the initiative (I can't spell!)to re-start the movemement - good luck!
Colleen

[Jayne]

Top up someone's parking meter if you see it is running out so they don't get a ticket!

[white o'morn cottge]

Colleen and Jayne, those are two wonderful ideas. I am going to do both of them. You can of course submit more if you think of them.
As it is two of us doing this we are going to have two giveaways: one for random kindness acts and one for senseless beauty acts.
Patrick's Day of course, has to be the G Day! I seem to have got my acc tech glitch fixed. Thanks a million! ...Pam and Angie

[Carrie]

Start early with children about giving~ something as simple as leaving a special gift on a child's doorstep, Christmas Eve, that is not as fortunate.

[Therese]

You've given me a good idea. There some old folks who live on my street and they walk for exercise - one old guy even goes for walks with his Zimmer frame. I'm going to find a little park bench and put it on the lawn outside my house so anyone who needs to stop for a rest has a place to "suigh sios" for a while.

[white o'morn cottge]

Carrie, that's such a far reaching idea. Thanks for thinking of it. Just marvelous!

And Therése. I see you have a bit of the Irish language. (suigh sios - means sit down)

So for you here goes...Tá sos beag nuair a bionn siad ag shúil... go hiónntach ar fad...cailín maith! Go raibh maith agat! Slán...Pam

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

What a sweet idea! Nice to see people thinking in a proactive way for simple, better every day life.

I had recently gotten involved in a BloggersUnite Act of Kindness on BlogCatalog. What I did for it was create a Squidoo page based on helpful tips for thrift store shopping decorating and then I have all the proceeds from any royalties going to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. It's so nice to see, each month, the charity get that extra bit.

[white o'morn cottage]

Thrift shop Romantic. What a wonderful thing to do. I had already come across that Squidoo page and loved it! Great to know it is generating income for the Salvation Army. Great minds think alike!...love Pam

[Rose Mary]

What a great reminder to people to remember that any little thing can qualify as an act of kindness! Here in the USA I think we really need to remember to have patience and be courteous with others. I see people being rude to checkers in store if they aren't fast enough. I've heard people make rude comments to elderly women who are slowly counting out their change when they buy groceries, etc. If we'll just remember to keep the Golden Rule, life will be much kinder for all of us! Going out of your way to share a smile is not expensive and it brightens the day of the one you share it with.

[Michele]

One thing to beautify is to pick up a little bit of trash that we see every day when out and about--just think if we all did this how much nicer our world would look.
To be kind...take more than one business card from people you know or work with (and always encourage those small business people!) and leave or distribute for them where/when appropriate (maybe even pop one into a restaurant "free meal monthly drawing"!)

[white o'morn cottage]

Michele - thanks for those two great idea. I would never have thought of that but yes, it is so simple and takes nothing but a little thought. All the best...Pam