Celebrating World Kindness Day
Welcome to this special Wednesday edition of my blog, where we are celebrating something very near and dear to my heart, World Kindness Day! For those of you who may not know, November 13th each year is World Kindness Day, and most people share simple messages across social media such as memories of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a classic example of kindness, or the like.
However, in my realm of social media, I have seen a saddening amount of representation. Because for most people, today is just like any other day.
In fact, I would argue that today should be just like any other day. Every day should be World Kindness Day. And unfortunately, it’s not.
We can talk about why our world is not as kind as it should be, but I think there’s a whole lot of history we would need to sum up. So instead, I want to talk about the next step, what we can do to increase world kindness.
People are not aware of World Kindness Day and what it entails, and I think many people do not value kindness as highly as I do, so they let it creep away to a place they know is there, but it hardly surfaces. Humans are often told that the world is cruel, and we have to protect our hearts from it. So we bottle up our emotions, and we shield ourselves from vulnerability. And that usually means shielding ourselves from the potential that kindness has to offer, making our world a better place and creating a supportive community where every one of us belongs.
So we need to educate and advocate on behalf of kindness, show the world that we have not lost all hope.
Kindness has a heartbeat; its rhythm connects with us and provokes us to do something different, spread the love, and wear our hearts on our sleeves. I feel its heartbeat each day as I wake up, telling me that I am alive, that I have a place in our world, and I can make a difference. I feel it in the smiles from strangers, in the laughter of my loved ones. I believe everyone can feel that heartbeat if they let themselves.
And it is our responsibility to share this with those closest to us.
One way to advocate for kindness is sharing this post and showing your friends what World Kindness Day means to you.
We can advocate for kindness by complimenting our friends even more so than usual. We can tip our servers extra generously and leave a nice message on the receipt. We can let go of the tension we have with the people around us. We can reach out to someone you know is in need of anything, from a warm meal to just a simple hug. We can volunteer for a nonprofit or donate to a charity.
There are endless possibilities on how we can share kindness. It does not matter the cost or its grandeur; what matters is the meaning behind it.
Kindness = love. And just like love, kindness cannot be measured. It is something bigger than us, and we have the power to share it.
And once you begin to be extra kind on World Kindness Day, you may notice a gentler, cheerful world around you, little by little. And soon, you may want to be kind tomorrow, too. And the next day. And the next day.
Until every day is World Kindness Day, as it should be.
