One Million Random Acts of Kindness

Last week I retrieved my AARP magazine from my mailbox and when I saw the cover I couldn’t help but grin. I found it slightly ironic that during Less of Me Month at NanaHood there was a story about a man who is crisscrossing the country doing random acts of kindness. Why is he doing this? His mission is to remind people to be kind to one another.

Bob and his dog, Bogart (gotta love a dog with that name) are traveling around the country in a bus painted with slogans. It sort of reminds me of the busses hippies used to decorate and travel around in during the 60s. Bob says he was inspired by the September 11th attacks. He really committed himself to his project. He sold his house and got rid of his business. Now he travels and talks about his goal of achieving one million acts. If you do the math (which I can’t add 2 plus 2 on a good day) that is fifty acts a day for fifty five years. Wow.

I’m working hard to do my one good deed a day for the month of January and this guy is shooting for one million. Maybe I need to ramp it up a notch. Of course there is the question of what constitutes a random act of kindness. One of the things he mentioned was giving someone a smile. I agree that a smile is a wonderful thing to give but that wasn’t exactly what I think of when I’m focusing on the needs of others, but maybe I should.

Sometimes a smile really can make the difference in what kind of day we have. Think about it. The last time you were having a really rotten day and someone made you laugh, didn’t it turn your day around? Laughter really is the best medicine.

So go ahead and make someone’s day. Give them a smile.