.

Online

      If you type “random acts of kindness” into an online search engine, you will be surprised by the number of responses you get. There has been an explosion of websites and blogs devoted to encouraging people to perform random acts of kindness to strangers, and countless pages of the anecdotes of the doers and receivers of kindness.

      For example, the website of the Australian Kindness Movement contains many suggestions of everyday kindnesses that can be practised by anyone. They range from random acts of kindness to common courtesy. Here are some examples: “Drop a few coins in an area where children play, where they can easily find them.

      Do you remember how excited you felt, when as a child you found a coin lying on the ground?”; “Spend a few minutes going through your old photos, and send whatever you can part with to the people in the photos”; “When phoning someone, ask ‘Have I phoned at the wrong time?’. If they are busy, ask when you can call back.”²²

       Table 1.2

      For a list of kindness websites, see Table 1.2, Appendix, p. 220.

       A global phenomenon?

      For some, the practice of good deeds is incentive-driven. It’s about being rewarded either in this life or the next.

      However for most, doing good is indeed altruistic - done to help others for no personal gain, and sometimes for no particular reason, but to put a smile on another person’s face.

      Here in Australia, 59% say they have done something nice for a stranger “just for the sake of being nice”, such as paying for a meal. Nearly all of these Australians (98%) say they would look to repeating this sort of kindness in the future. Of those who haven’t shown kindness for the sake of it, 75.4% say they would be prepared to, should an opportunity arise.²³

       Multiple motivations to do good

      1 Delight: 38.5% of Australians lend a helping hand to a stranger simply because of the joy they receive in putting a smile on another’s face!

      2 Conscience: 69% of Australians help because they feel bad if they don’t.

      3 God/belief in an afterlife: 22.9% perform good deeds because of religious beliefs.24

      Some say that the “random acts of kindness” movement was started by peace activist Anne Herbert who, in the early 1980s, wrote the following on a napkin at a restaurant in San Francisco: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty”. The famous words saw a chain reaction of kindness - from bumper stickers²⁵ to a spate of books, movies and video clips which celebrate spontaneous good deeds. Anne Herbert’s unspoken message of practising random kindness was heard loud and clear! Like a drop of clear water in a murky pond, it created a ripple effect of goodness in a world that is often unkind - that just kept growing! This is testament to the power of even those small acts of good.

       Table 1.3

      For a timeline for the random acts of kindness phenomenon, see Table 1.3, Appendix, p. 222.

      But why the global trend? Eleven years on from Anne Herbert’s message, Professor Chuck Wall of Bakersfield College in California challenged his students to perform “a random act of senseless kindness” after hearing a radio report describing “another random act of senseless violence”.²⁶

      The world of violence that we are so frequently reminded of by the media has caused a longing for its opposite, as seen in the example of Juan Mann.

      In Australia in 2004, Juan Mann received much international attention for his unusual stunt in Pitt Street, Sydney, where he stood in the street, holding up a sign, saying “Free Hugs”. Juan received so much attention, in fact, that the lead singer of the band Sick Puppies, Shimon Moore, filmed him for Sick Puppies’ song All the Same, which quickly enjoyed notoriety on YouTube. The film, which has had nearly 34 million hits at the time of publication, has inspired “free hug” copycats from cities around the world, including Taipei, Chicago, Geneva and Shanghai. “Free hugs” websites have been set up across the globe, too: Wales, France, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.²⁷

      In October of 2006, Mann told Oprah Winfrey what happened when he first held up his sign: “The first person who stopped tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one-year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. And how what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling.”²⁸ It’s no wonder that Juan Mann received the international attention that he did – while it may seem like the world is in adoration of self-satisfying celebrities, in reality it is kind-hearted people who we most highly regard.

      For Australians, treatment of others is the most important attribute in determining what we think of someone – 76% say it is “an extremely important factor”. The amount of money/material possessions someone has, looks/appearance and status/success are considered by Australians to be the least important attributes.

       Table 1.4

      For an analysis of the “Free Hugs” phenomenon, see Table 1.4, Appendix, p. 224.

      There is even an official world movement dedicated to kindness. It was formally launched in Singapore in 2000. The Australian Kindness Movement was one of the founding members, begun in 1994 by Sydney engineer Brian Willis, who was inspired to start it after talking to teenagers at the checkout of his local supermarket. He was dismayed to discover that these young people believed their parents did not have the time to talk to them.²⁹

      Charter member countries include: Canada, England, Japan, Scotland, Singapore, Thailand, USA, India, Italy, Nepal, Nigeria, New Zealand and South Korea. The movement has approximately 3 million members.³⁰

       Giving back

      In putting this book together, we have joined this growing world movement of kindness. We hope it gives some encouragement to those who wonder where all the goodness has gone, and some acknowledgment to those kind-hearted strangers who have helped us all out. We hope it encourages others to show random kindness, and indeed it’s already doing that.

      One dollar per book will go to the work of Hope Street (www.hopestreet.org.au), who look after some of Australia’s most marginalised people.

      Do you have a story of kindness?

      Well, we’d love to hear it for our next book! Please go to:

      www.powerofgood.com.au

      to submit your account and get in print. Please see the back of the book for more information.