random acts of kindness

i'm starting a new campaign.... encouraging people to find one thing in their lives that is good... that makes them smile...that is filled with sunshiny happiness.... to look to the future with positive eyes and heart... to believe that anything is possible.... and that the media and it's gloom and doom does not control our lives....

lately... every time i turn on the radio... or the news... all i hear is gloom and doom.... even NPR which is usually a bit more upbeat... reports the fall of the stock market..the fall of the automobile industry... the banks...the home mortgages.... no one has the answer...the whole 700 billion bail out appears to be another "weapons of mass destruction" the AIG's of this country... i could care less about...and first hand knowledge knows the AIG's could care less about us too.... they just want our money...yep..that's it....now... it is being reported no one knows just how to distribute the 700 billion... who gets saved... no shit... are you really surprised...no really....?

it's getting to the point i'm afraid to turn on the radio or the news... because it's all bad... not that the news hasn't always been sensationalized.... to capture our attention... the fear factor....has great power..... and so many believe everything they hear.... the more fear they instill in our minds the more power they have over us... yesterday.... i read how there is always a high number of death threats reported after a presidential election....this time it's at an all time high... the hate and anger in this country is pathetic.... people hate in the name of religion...jesus crist... they hate because the bible says so... are you fucking kidding me...?

when i was working on my degree at UCO... i had a class with Dr. Watson... a class i had to take for my degree.... reluctant to be in his class...putting it off as long as possible... he completely intimidated me... hearing story after story....reinforced my own fear of taking his class... as it turned out the stories were only stories...and Dr Watson was without a doubt... one the most influential and impressive professors of my college career... on the first day of class he gave us our syllabus...thoroughly explaining what was expected of us as well he gave us an assignment which was to be completed by the end of the semester...this assignment didn't have anything to do with commercial art...it had to do with kindness.... the assignment was to intentionally perform...10 random acts of kindness...fill out the form for each and turn them in.... kindness is completely underrated... i found myself doing things i would have never thought of before... not that i wasn't kind...it was that i had to be thoughtful of acting kind all the time... be aware of my actions towards others... what a novel idea... kindness... who would have thought...

i challenge each of you....to intentionally... do something kind for a stranger...a friend... to thoughtfully....selflessly put yourself aside and do something kind just for the heck of it... write it down... you don't have to tell anyone....just record what you did... make a list of all the kind things you have done each day....it could be as simple as saying "excuse me i think you dropped this" or perhaps a SMILE..... just step outside of yourself and do something kind for another person... after about a week...read through your list of random acts of kindness... and see how you feel... it's not what others do for you....it's what you do for others....

i'm certain...after a week of consciously... performing acts of kindness... "the ember of love"... will be charged within you... and a smile...a warm smile will emerge within your heart...your lips stretching from ear to ear.... feeling really good about yourself... feeling like you made a difference...as small as it was... you did something kind.....you changed another persons day... which in turn...changed another persons day...and another and another.....