Last fall, passing through South Station in Boston, I was approached by station staff and given a little business card.  "Commit to Kindness," it read, and on the reverse was a picture of Underdog.  It was the anniversary of "Positive People Day" courtesy of Victory over Violence. I was impressed enough to ask them for a handful of the cards, and I passed them out for the rest of the day, and brought some to the university to pass out there.  I thought I had given them all out but lo and behold, in one of the jillion pockets in my laptop case, I found a few more over the weekend.  I got to thinking about this, in the face of the senseless and tragic violence in Binghamton, New York.  (I chose this particular article to link because it reminds us that this kind of violence has become as American as apple pie).

What can I do to counter this sort of thing?  Individually, very little.  Corporately, not much more.  I support the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and projects such as Teaching Tolerance with donations during annual fund drives, but that seems too distanced to be entirely satisfying.  It would be a little pretentious to say I had an epiphany here, but clashing Binghamton with Commit to Kindness, I remembered reading about Viral Violenceat the blog, Specialists in Violence,   The blog is worth bookmarking.  Much of interest there.

Well, if violence is virulent, perhaps kindness is kontagious.  I don't expect to be forgiven quickly for that...but it's typed and out there, and I feel committed to leaving it there.  The point is, that kindness is insidious.  I'm not talking about monstrous magnanimous acts of very pubic charity.  I'm talking about the kind of thing which the folks at Random Acts of Kindness  espouse-the kind of thing which really is no big deal.  Their February newsletter quotes Wordsworth (the daffodil guy):

    "The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." --William Wordsworth

If it's good enough for Wordsworth, I guess it's good enough for me.  I'm sometimes surprised by things people tell me.  On Rate My Professor, my goofy smile got an encouraging comment.  (I hate to press my luck...I haven't visited the site in a couple of years.) But a colleague of mine said something similar a week or so ago...that my smile gave him a boost.  (He smiles a lot, too).

The Foundation for a Better Life is the companion to Random Acts of Kindness.   Check it out when you're feeling on the grumpy side...unless "a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing the values that make a difference in our communities" sounds so saccharine that visiting it would likely make your every side equally grumpy.

I've quoted John Winthrop too often already...but his "rejoice together, mourn together" is still advice worth considering.  So are the words of Paul Foreman at Mind Map Inspiration

    True Random Acts of Kindness are genuine, sincere, thoughtful and considerate. They are acts without seeking anything in return. This means no ROI (Return on Investment), in fact, no thinking of it as an investment and no expectation of a return favour or RAK. There is no express need or requirement for acknowledgement or response.

His mind map for Random Acts of Kindness expresses what I'm suggesting...an attempt by everyone of good will to make kindness as viral as violence-no; that's not enough.  Make kindness more virulent than violence.  My next random act of kindness is to finish this post before everyone falls asleep.