Random act of kindness

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A random act of kindness is a purportedly selfless act performed by a person or persons wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual or in some cases even an animal. There will generally be no reason other than to make people smile, or be happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, random acts of kindness are encouraged by various communities. An oft-cited example of a random act of kindness is, when paying the toll at a toll booth on a highway, to pay the toll for the vehicle behind you as well.

[edit] Presence in popular culture

The phrase "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" may have been coined by peace activist Anne Herbert. Herbert says she wrote it on a placemat at a Sausalito restaurant in 1982 or 1983.^[1]
A book, Random Acts of Kindness, was released by Conari Press in 1993.
The movie Pay It Forward (2000) is largely based on Random Acts of Kindness.
The French film Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) (Amélie) follows a young woman who engages in various random – and often anonymous – acts of kindness.
Join Me is a group created in 2002 by humorist Danny Wallace; the group's purpose is to encourage members to perform random acts of kindness, particularly on "Good Fridays".
In 2006, a Free Hugs Campaign was made popular by a music video on YouTube.
Scott Mills is a British DJ on BBC Radio 1 who used the term as the name of a regular feature of his programme.
Talk Radio Host David Stein of The Celebration of Life Through Sports has also declared every Monday "Random Act of Kindness Day".
Radio program Kfm Breakfast ran a "Random Act of Kindness Day" on the June winter solstice in 2007^[2], collecting ±50,000kgs of tinned food for Cape Town's homeless shelters.
The 2007 box-office success Evan Almighty ends with Evan and his family on a weekend hiking trip when God reappears to Evan, telling him that the way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness ("ARK") at a time; the film's central message.