RANDOM KINDNESS AND SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY

The phrase "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" was written by Anne Herbert on a placemat in Sausalito, California, in 1982.

Herbert's book "Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty" was published in February 1993 speaking about true stories of acts of kindness.

The first time I saw this phrase was in the sticker of a car in New York in 1974. I liked a lot but then, I didn’t know its origin.

I mention it here because it is a continuation of my article entitled “Giving money or giving oneself”.

When I looked for this phrase on the Internet I've found multiples examples of what it means in practical terms.

One of the publications lists 100 acts. Another –which I choose— gives 10 examples.

The important thing is, on the one hand, be clear about the spirit of the phrase, and the second thing is to put it in practice.

Shortly after arriving to work in Washington D.C. I took the Metro to go to the city and when I was to put money to pay for my ticket I lack 25 cents.

I felt annoyed. One Navy officer looked at me and asked: how much d’you need?, I replied “a Quarter”, and he extended me a bill of one dollar and went away.

That’s an act of kindness. It happens suddenly, the person who performs the act has not thought about it beforehand. It emerges naturally from the situation at the moment.

I saw a blind person trying to cross a street with considerable traffic. I took from his arm and helped him to cross.

Another day at the supermarket there was a lady with only one item she bought. I have many. I invited her to stay before me, although she was behind. She thanked me.

It is a beautiful experience to see how people react positively to what you do and is an inner reward for your spirit to feel good for what you are doing in benefit of others, people you don't know, people that happen to be at the moment, in certain circumstance.

I was in Spain as a part of my work as a journalist, and taking a subway, pickpockets stole my documents and money. I felt miserable. With me was another journalist, a lady from India. She insisted to stay with me while I went to the police to denounce what happened. It implied to spend more than one hour.

Later, at the hotel, another lady, from Thailand, get to know what happened to me, and suddenly she knocked on the door of my room. What a surprise was to me when she said: "I knew what happened to you. If you need money, I can give it to you". I thanked very much her offer of help because I immediately recognized that she was sorry for me and she wanted to alleviate my situation.

In Barcelona, a couple of journalists asked me if I could go with them to “El Corte Inglés", a big department store because they didn't manage Spanish.

I knew it will take considerable time but for me was a satisfaction to help them made their purchases.

I don’t want you to get bored with examples but I would like to share with you those 10 examples that I’ve found on the Internet. I took them and adapted from the web page “wikiHow to do anything”. Here they are:

1- Give out compliments generously.

2- Share a smile.

3 – Visit or send postcards to sick kids in a hospital. 

4- Brightening Someone’s Day.

5- Cover the coffee that someone is drinking.

6- Give up your seat on public transportation.

7- Do a chore for a family member before they can get to it.

8 - Thank the people who normally don’t receive a lot of thanks.

9 - Leave a big tip at a restaurant.

10 - Pick up trash on the side of the road and throw it away.
After you have done things like these, expect nothing in return.

"The greatest acts of kindness are those freely given because you care about another person and want them to be happy. Kindness is its reward, so it will improve your sense of well-being and happiness no matter what you do."

Milton W.Hourcade