Today, November 13th, is World Kindness Day. How perfect that it comes in the middle of National Family Caregivers Month, National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and Military Family Month. Those are three different entities that are all about kindness to others.
Today, you are encouraged to perform an act of kindness for another. It can be large or small. It can cost you money, or it can be free. It can even before a non-human creature. For instance, instead of squashing a spider you find in your house, scoop it into a cup and take it outside to a plant. Not only are you being kind to the spider, you’re doing the plant a favor, as many spiders eat insects that destroy plants.
The origin of World Kindness Day comes from Japan, back in 1997, when the Small Kindness Movement came together with other countries to celebrate these little moments. Now it’s celebrated in many countries, and in many ways. In Cincinnati today, healthy snacks were being given out by and to the community, Tucson is taking the day to talk about a local non-profit that has sprinkled the town with murals dedicated to kindness, and, further afield, in Nigeria, a well-known artist is donating several of his works to a foundation that helps those in need heart surgery.
What are some of your ideas for World Kindness Day? What are some random acts of kindness you may have performed over the past year? Today is about inspiring kindness every day.