I’ve mentioned before that I have “kindness” entered into Google Alerts; one day I may even start posting the results regularly. For now I’d like to use yesterday’s returns for kindness to contrast meanings.
There are two stories that both refer to “random acts of kindness” that yet are very different in nature. The first is about all the acts of kindness a runner experienced during a race. The acts were in response to events unfolding during a race, like a runner dropping something or needing assistant. This is what I’ve been calling Responsive Kindness.
The other is about one person’s quest to do 366 “random acts of kindness” over the course of this leap year. These acts are not responding directly to events but are largely premeditated in order to give back. This is certainly admirable, but it’s not natural. Our empathy does not naturally cause us to go out of our way to do things for people regardless of what we observe or experience about them. As such this might be viewed more as Heroic, Extraordinary or, at least, Unusual Kindness. This is not the type of kindness that has and will redeem humanity because, by definition, not everyone will do it.
That is why, once again, I am being an advocate of Responsive Kindness. I’m not a big fan of “Random Kindness” because it either does not distinguish our natural responses of kindness or it really hints at “Unusual Kindness” instead. Ryan’s blog does give me an idea, however. More on that later.
