Make November Kindness Month
By Marjorie Foerster Eddington
One of the definitions of "charity" is: "Any act of kindness or benevolence" (Webster). So, let's express charity.
 Let's do what the slogan says: "Practice random acts of kindness." You can decide to practice kindness acts:
- as an individual
- as a school club or class activity
- through your church
- as a family.
However you choose to start, you may want to think about these ideas:
- Be aware of those around you. Look for those who really need kind treatment, and reach out to them.
- Be quiet about your kindness. Don’t go bragging about what neat things you did for others.
- Be kind in secret. Sometimes it’s fun not to let anyone, not even the recipient of your kindness, know what kind thing you did.
- Have secret pals and then have a party at the end of the month to find out who was partnered with whom.
Here are some helpful hints to get started:
- See what the needs are in your family, school, church, community that will make the most difference. Ask around if no needs are obvious to you.
- Look for resources. There are books and websites dedicated to encouraging and recording acts of kindness. All you need to do is type in “acts of kindness” in your search engine, and you’ll be led right to them. See Web Sites on Kindness box on the right side of this page.
- You might want to read up to find out what Luke has to say about Jesus.
- You can also flip through your Bible to see for yourself what Jesus, his apostles, the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs did to help people.
Why is being kind so important? How will it make a difference?
One of the most important aspects of charity, of love, is being kind. St. Paul tells us this in I. Cor. 13:4. In his explication of Paul's letter, The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond (theologian, scientist, and professor) tells us about the importance and power of kindness:
Kindness. Love active. Have you ever noticed how much of Christ's life was spent in doing kind things—in merely doing kind things? Run over it with that in view, and you will find that He spent a great proportion of His time simply in making people happy, in doing good turns to people.
There is only one thing greater than happiness in the world, and that is holiness;… what God has put in our power is the happiness of those about us, and that is largely to be secured by our being kind to them.
"The greatest thing," says some one, "a man can do for his Heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children." I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder than we are? How much the world needs it. How easily it is done. How instantaneously it acts. How infallibly it is remembered. How superabundantly it pays itself back -- for there is no debtor in the world so honorable, so superbly honorable, as Love. "Love never faileth." Love is success, Love is happiness, Love is life.... There is a difference between trying to please and giving pleasure. Give pleasure. Lose no chance of giving pleasure. For that is the ceaseless and anonymous triumph of a truly loving spirit. "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." (22-24)
As we go through November doing kind things to others, let's remember that in order to be kind, we need to refuse even to be tempted to criticize, gossip, talk trash about others, be negative; get upset, irritated, or frustrated; argue, fight, mope around, expect the worst, etc.
The whole point about Kindness Month is being kind -- compliment, encourage, take care of others, look for the best, share, do good to others, forgive, stay calm, be happy, etc.
When we are kind to others, we are giving one of the most important gifts we can give to another. Let's give kindness abundantly! |
