More Random Acts of Kindness - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0943233828 ISBN 13: 9780943233826

Publisher: Conari Press, 1994

Synopsis

Experience the Joy of Being Kind, Again

Inspirational true stories, thoughtful quotations, and suggestions for generosity revisited in a new edition of the book series that was a national sensation.

The magic of kindness. When Random Acts of Kindness was published, no one could have guessed the reaction and consequent movement it would ignite. After its release, the Editors at Conari Press were flooded with heartwarming stories about acts of kindness from people all over the country. This book is packed with stories from people who have observed or engaged in random acts of kindness, and their stories serve as motivational messages encouraging us to go out and be a force for good. Kindness inspires kindness―this is the magic fueling the movement.

All the inspiration you need. Not only is this book full of amazing true stories of everyday kindnesses, it also shares thoughtful quotes to provide some extra inspiration for the journey. Just as one simple, small act of kindness can change someone’s entire day, compassion can change the world―especially if we all join together. This book is proof of the power and magic of kindness. By sharing the stories of a few individuals, topped with inspirational words and ideas, it serves as a resource for those wishing to make a difference in our world for the better. Open up this sequel to Random Acts of Kindness and learn more about:

• How people from every imaginable background have witnessed and practiced kindness
• The difference that one act of kindness can make
• Ways to go out and be a source of generosity and love

Readers of books such as Chicken Soup for the Soul: Random Acts of Kindness, The Power of Kindness, Go Be Kind, and How Can I Help? will love the beautiful and moving stories found in More Random Acts of Kindness.

About this title

About the Author

The Editors of Conari Press have produced the bestselling Random Acts of Kindness series, with over 1 million copies sold.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

More Random Acts of Kindness

By Editors of Conari Press

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

Copyright © 1994 The Editors of Conari Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-943233-82-6

CHAPTER 1

The PowerofRandom Acts of Kindness

We at Conari Press published Random Acts of Kindness to inspire and spread theword about the power of kindness. It did that and more: we have been floodedwith letters from readers, telling us of the kindness they have experienced intheir lives—simple acts that often left profound change in their wake. Eachstory was precious and powerful, from the simplest gesture to the mostunimaginable miracle. More Random Acts of Kindness grew out of the realizationthat we could not possibly keep these stories to ourselves. Sifting through thepiles of letters trying to pick which stories to publish was an almostimpossibly difficult task. In the end we simply went on instinct, selectingthose that moved us the most and offered the widest reflections on kindness.

Throughout the sorting process we noticed a few things about the inner workingsof kindness as stories converged and themes repeated themselves over and overagain. One of the obvious (and at first surprising) realizations was that mostof the stories submitted, the ones people were almost desperate to tell, wereinvariably about kindnesses they had received. In each there was a giver and areceiver, but the need to tell the story was almost always from the person whohad been the beneficiary.

At first we thought it was simply modesty. At a Random Acts of Kindness party weheld, after many people had shared an act of kindness they had received, wepointed out that all the stories were from the point of view of the recipientand asked people to speak as well of the things they had done. The audieneepolitely listened and then returned to telling the most fascinating and powerfulstories of kindnesses done to and for them.

Gradually it became clear that the reason we were flooded with stories fromrecipients was really quite simple: the quality of the experience wasdramatically different. The person on the receiving end experienced what wasoften a life-altering moment, whereas the giver experienced a less dramatic,quiet affirmation of simply having "done the right thing."

The second thing that emerged was that although the stories were as varied asthe people telling them, at the foundation of each story was a very simple andcompassionate connection between strangers who, for a moment, experienced oneanother not as strangers, but as family. In a sense, kindness truly is theacting out of our very deep and real connection to everyone and everythingaround us. It is the realization that all of us are in fact—not just in theoryor theology—in this together.

The third observation is about the extraordinary impact of even the smallest actof kindness. Many of the experiences happened many years ago but made such animpression that they were every bit as powerful in the retelling. Just a simplestory about a single act that occurred twenty years before could and frequentlydid call forth a deep well of emotion.

Most surprising was the realization of how easily we seem to misplace thisjewel. Kindness is something we are accustomed to thinking of as "nice" or"sweet" and we tend to set it apart from those things we perceive of as more"important"—attributes like intelligence, strength, and power. It is so easy tosee kindness as a wonderful quality in an individual but of limited importancein the complex life of work, achievement, politics, and society.

That framework arises almost naturally from the structure of our daily lives. Westruggle with the immediate responsibilities of paying bills, raising children,and searching for answers to the personal, social, and global problems we faceevery day. And although kindness is a positive and valued attribute to carrywith us in these endeavors, it doesn't always seem to play a role in the endresults. It can look like an "extra something" that good people weave into theirdaily lives—but not a necessity.

From the vantage point of having read so many people's stories, however, we'vecome to see that this attitude misses the point entirely. Kindness is not aboutpaying bills and getting by; its sphere of influence is vastly broader andultimately more important. Kindness is about being who we truly are. Seen fromthis perspective, kindness emerges as one of the most powerful tools at ourdisposal as we go through our lives. Its power not only is easily accessible toanyone who cares to use it, but it also can never be diminished; rather itexpands with every action. It has the ability to utterly transform anotherperson's life through the simplest of actions. It has the capacity to return usto the very core of our humanity.

Even with this limitless power in our grasp, the texture and context of ourlives often leave us confused about how to employ it. The desire is there—toconnect, to lend a helping hand, to extend ourselves out into the world—but theavenues for doing so seem obscure and confused. We are often victims of our ownfears and rationalizations—that the world is too dangerous a place to connectwith, that one person cannot make a difference. Too many of us suffer fromsocial shrinkage, reducing the boundaries within which we are willing to actfrom our hearts to smaller and smaller circles of friends and family.

When a mass tragedy occurs, people respond; floods in the Midwest, hurricanes inFlorida, earthquakes in California, famine in Africa—all are met with anoutpouring of kindness and generosity. Similarly, in most of the stories wereceived, the response had been triggered through the catalyst of someone else'sunavoidable need. And while this is good, think of the untapped potential thatwould be unleashed if we could find a way to weave the kindness in our heartsinto every moment of our lives.

That is the challenge: to learn how to practice random acts of kindness as awelcome and natural part of our daily lives. We see this book as a furthering ofthat learning.

—The Editors of Conari Press

A number of years back, my six-year-old son and I had gone shopping at one ofthose giant discount toy stores with toys piled to the ceiling. We had just comearound the corner of an aisle when I saw a young, long-haired bearded man in awheelchair. He must have been in some terrible accident because both his legswere missing and his face was badly scarred. Just then my six-year-old saw himtoo and said in a loud voice, "Look at that man, Momma!"

I did the normal mother thing and tried to shush my son, telling him it was notpolite to point; but my son gave a hard tug, broke free from my hand, and wentrunning down the aisle to the man in the wheelchair. He stood right in front ofhim and said in a loud voice, "What a cool dude earring, man! Where did you getsuch a neat earring?"

The young man broke into a grin that lit up his face. He was so taken aback bythe compliment that he just glowed with happiness, and the two of them stoodthere talking awhile about his earring and other "cool stuff." It made a lifelongimpression on me.

For I had seen only a horribly scarred man in a wheelchair, but my six-year-oldsaw a man with a cool dude earring.

As a childI understood how to give;I have forgotten this gracesince I became civilized.

—Ohiyesa

Years ago I had to have a new water heater installed. A very surly man showed upto do the installation, giving short, curt answers to my every question. Ithought he was simply a sour old man and left him to his work.

When he finished, he said he had to wait for another worker to arrive to helphim carry the old tank out of my basement. I invited him to sit in my kitchenand offered him some coffee. He said "Nope" and just sat down at my table withlegs and arms crossed. I rolled my eyes and went about my work, knowing he'd begone soon.

After a few moments he asked what was flashing on my dining room table. Iretrieved a small clock shaped like a computer workstation and gave it to him tolook at. I explained how it used solar power to alternately flash the time andthe name of my company. He said "Hmmph" and set it on the kitchen table, but Inoticed he continued to look at it from time to time.

Finally his assistant came and they carried the tank from the basement. Hereturned to my back door to get my signature, and I asked him to wait. I went inand got the clock and said, "Here, take this with you." He said, "Are youserious?" I said yes and smiled as he nodded and started to leave. He hesitated,turned back to me, and said, "Ya know, my wife died six weeks ago, and this isthe first nice thing anyone's done for me." He looked at me one last moment, thecorners of his mouth barely turning up, and walked away.

I walked back into my kitchen and broke down crying.

To give without any reward,or any notice, has a special quality of its own.

—Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I am from a family of staunch Catholics, so my divorce was viewed as a disgraceand a scandal. My mother and I were estranged for over a year because of it. Westarted our reconciliation with tentative phone calls, letters, and my promiseto come home for Christmas. Then she died unexpectedly on the first day ofDecember. The plane tickets I had planned to use for a holiday reunion wereinstead used for her funeral. The black sheep returned to the fold.

For reasons of my own, I did not want to view the body in the casket. Manyfamily members and friends questioned that decision, but I sat resolutely in thereception parlor as the others went inside for prayers. In the middle of thethrong, my most "perfect and pious" aunt—the mother of the priest—quietlyannounced, "I think I'll stay here too." She sat silently beside me and held myhand for the entire evening. The act was simple, the meaning immense. Ithappened thirteen years ago and I still cry when I remember how touched I was byher kindness.

In nothingdo men more nearly approach the Godsthan by doing good to their fellow man.

—Cicero

Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it andacts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It isnot complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen tohis own goodness and act on it.

—Pablo Casals

A friend who was working in the Dominican Republic with Habitat for Humanity hadbefriended a small boy named Etin. He noticed that when Etin wore a shirt at allit was always the same dirty, tattered one. A box of used clothes had been leftat the camp, and my friend found two shirts in it that were in reasonably goodshape and about Etin's size, so he gave them to the grateful boy. A few dayslater he saw another boy wearing one of the shirts. When he next met up withEtin he explained that the shirts were meant for him. Etin just looked at himand said, "But you gave me two!"

What really mattersis what you do with what you have.

—Shirley Lord

I had just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and was worried about what seemedto be the increasing frequency of carjackings. Whenever I drove I was constantlyaware of my surroundings and was always taking steps to avoid becoming a"statistic." One morning I was in a particularly bad area, sitting at anintersection waiting for the light to change. As I looked across the street, Isaw several men grouped around a stopped car. One man was moving in and out ofthe driver's side with such intensity and effort that he looked as though he wasusing all his strength.

My heart jumped into my throat as I thought I was witnessing someone beingcarjacked. But before my brain could come up with any action to take, I realizedthat the man's car had stalled, and with the help of the other men he was tryingto push it to the side of the street. As I watched, they pushed it to safety andafter a wave and a nod they all walked off in different directions. Totalstrangers helping someone out. I felt like crying—whether at the unexpectedsweetness of the scene or at my unwarranted suspicion and fright—I do not know.

Caring is a reflexSomeone slips, your arm goes out.A car is in the ditch,you join the others and push ...You live, you help.

—Ram Dass

There is a beautiful old spruce tree that grows in a field along side the streetto my home. For years it has been a comforting and serene part of my dailycommute. Over the past few years I had watched a thick vine grow around the treeand climb its trunk. As time went by the vine grew more and more vigorously, andthe poor old tree was clearly suffering. I don't know why I simply observed anddid nothing.

One Saturday morning as I was driving my children into town for assortedsporting events, I noticed a elderly couple had driven into the field and wererummaging around in their car. Returning home many hours later I saw the couplesweating away in the hot sun, doing mortal battle with the massive vine. Iquickly changed into my yard clothes, mixed up a pitcher of lemonade, threw anassortment of fruit and snacks into a cooler, and headed over to the field.

When I got there I was astounded by what I saw: the couple had been hacking awayfor half the day already, and a huge pile of cut vines with stems as thick as agarden hose lay next to the tree. But there was much more to be done. I greetedthe couple with my offerings and after a brief, friendly picnic we all set tothe task at hand.

By the end of the day we had attracted three more volunteers, and by sunset youcould almost hear the sigh of relief from that old spruce. Our efforts were notin vain; now whenever I drive past my heart fills with joy over the robustappearance of that beautiful tree.

My satisfactioncomes from my commitment toadvancing a better world.

—Faye Wattleton

Driving the fourteen miles home to our small Iowa town from a last-minuteChristmas shopping trip, my father was carefully navigating his way through theheavy falling snow. About a half-mile from our farmhouse—the only one for miles—wespotted a car in the ditch and stopped to investigate. It was empty. Theblowing snow all but obscured the lane up to our house, but I could see that thelights were on and we never left the lights on.

As we stumbled in our front door we were greeted by the refugees from theabandoned car, a stranded family of four. They began apologizing for being inour house, but Mom just said, "Shush, you did what you had to do," as she beganpreparing hot drinks and food for us all.

It seemed so natural to expect them to stay the night, so my brother and Ieagerly began getting acquainted with our new friends. Farm life was lonely forthe two of us, age eight and ten, and the company of other boys was alwayswelcome. That night the full force of the storm hit and by morning it wasobvious that our guests would not be able to continue their journey to Minnesotafor Christmas. There was two feet of snow everywhere and probably no snowplowfor days. To four small boys it was paradise.

Mom just took us aside and we began to rewrap and address presents for ournewly-found extended family. Unbeknownst to us, the father had gone back totheir car to collect their Minnesota presents and was doing the same. It was oneof the best Christmases I can remember.

After the verb "to love," the verb, "to help"is the most beautiful verb in the world.

—Bertha Von Suttner

I arrived at the airport in Pullman, Washington, excited about my approachinginterview for admission to the University of Washington's veterinary school. Iwent directly to the rental-car agency to pick up my car, only to find, to mydisbelief and horror, that my credit card had been refused and I had no othermeans of payment.

I ran to the pay phone and called my roommate back in California. I was tryingto explain what had happened in between hysterical sobs, when a man walked up tome, tapped me on the shoulder, handed me a hundred-dollar bill, and walked away.Thanks to the generous compassion of a total stranger I made the interview ontime and was accepted into the veterinary school.

Only a life lived for others is worth living.

—Albert Einstein

(Continues...)

Excerpted from More Random Acts of Kindness by Editors of Conari Press. Copyright © 1994 The Editors of Conari Press. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Conari Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0943233828
• ISBN 13: 9780943233826
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: The Editors Of Conari Press