Random act of kindness

A random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual person or people. The phrase may have been coined by Anne Herbert, who claims to have written "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a place mat at a Sausalito restaurant in 1982 or 1983.^[1][2] Either spontaneous or planned, random acts of kindness are encouraged by various communities.

Contents 1 Examples of events or groups 2 In fiction 3 See also 4 References

Examples of events or groups

• The Jewish concept of a mitzvah has a secondary meaning of a good deed or an act of kindness. The Chabad Lubavitchers are known to promote random acts of kindness.

• Established in 1995 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation promotes spreading kindness.^[3]

• In 2006, a Free Hugs Campaign was made popular by a music video on YouTube.

• A variety of radio hosts have used the term for events encouraged or sponsored by the shows, such as Brent Farris of KZST in California, Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1, David Stein of the Sporting News Radio, and Kfm Breakfast of 94.5 Kfm in South Africa.

• The One Million Random Acts of Kindness Campaign (RAK) launched on BBC Radio in 2008.^[4]

• The BBC 1 London News ran a News item entitled 'Hampers at the Ready' following' The Kindness Offensive' event on the 22nd of December 2008, which saw TKO (James Hunter, Benny Crane, Calum Teach & David Goodfellow), with help from a seventy strong group of volunteers, hand out over thirty-five tonnes of presents to the public at random, as well as many other charities and community groups. The Kindness Offensive suggest and it is widely accepted that their Christmas event on the 22/12/08 was the UK's largest ever Random Act of Kindness.

• An Australian TV-show called Random Acts of Kindness, on Channel 9, shows hosts Karl Stefanovic, Scott Cam and Simmone Jade Mackinnon giving gifts to people they identify as heroes.^[5]

• HelpOthers.org is the home of Smile Cards and a portal of kindness stories, ideas, and online groups. It allows people to send random notes of kindness to others.^[6]

• Join Me is a book written in 2002 by humorist Danny Wallace; in which he tells of the cult he started by accident, the group's purpose is to encourage members (called Joinees and collectively known as the KarmaArmy) to perform random acts of kindness, particularly on Fridays which are termed "Good Fridays". Wallace has also published a book called Random Acts of Kindness: 365 Ways to Make the World a Nicer Place.

• Caffè sospeso

In fiction

• The 2007 movie Evan Almighty ends with God telling the main character, Evan, that the way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness ("ARK") at a time.

• Karen McCombie's book The Seventeen Secrets of the Karma Club revolves around two girls who (inspired by their favourite film Amelie) start up their 'Karma Club', the intention of which, is to do random acts of kindness anonymously.

See also

• Altruism
• Pay it forward
• Kindness
• Parable of the Good Samaritan
• The Sheep and the Goats
• Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
• Random Acts of Kindness Day
• The Kindness Offensive
• Sympathy

References

1. ^ Adair Lara, "Random Acts of Senseless Kindness",The San Francisco Chronicle, May 16, 1991
2. ^ "Handy Tips on How to Behave at the Death of the World," Whole Earth Review, Spring 1995, p.88
3. ^ Actsofkindness.org, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
4. ^ 4000saturdays.com, One Million Random Acts of Kindness Campaign
5. ^ Random Acts of Kindness (06/06/2009)
6. ^ "Web site rewards inner beauty". CNN. 13 May 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/05/08/dcl.pankags.shah.beauty.cnn?iref=allsearch. Retrieved 29 March 2011.