The Healing Garden: A Place Of Peace

Gardening For The Soil Gardening For The Soul

Finding Solace In A Changing World

ISBN 0-9733085-0-8

By Gwen Nyhus Stewart

Chapter 12 Acts of Kindness

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In this chapter:

Ø What are Acts of Kindness?

Ø Ideas and Options for Practicing Acts of Kindness

Ø Remember

“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

In 1982, Anne Herbert, a writer for The Whole Earth Review, wrote in her column to Practice Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty. A woman who had seen the quote while driving along a toll bridge in San Francisco decided to put this into practice. She paid for the next six cars that were behind her in the line-up. Another person saw the quote and decided to do a kind deed for a neighbour. The quote is now on bumper stickers, bottoms of letters, T-shirts, in classrooms, on walls, and kindness groups have been started to engage people in acting kindness on a daily basis.

As we were discussing acts of kindness one night in a university class I teach, one of the students told the following story. After it had been snowing the day before, the next morning she thought the snow needed to be removed from her portion of the street. When she looked out the window in contemplation of this task, her portion of the street was cleaned. As she looked further along her street she realised the whole street was cleaned. In total amazement, she hunted down the perpetrators of these ‘acts of kindness.’ It was an eleven-year-old boy from the neighbourhood, who along with a friend had cleaned everybody’s portion of the street. This student could hardly wait to tell the class members about what these young boys’ gift had meant to her. (I am sure all the other neighbours felt the same way.).

WHAT ARE ACTS OF KINDNESS?

Kindness is defined as the quality or state of being kind. Eknath Easwarden wrote, “The Sufis advise us to speak only after our words have managed to pass through three gates. At the first gate, we ask ourselves, ‘Are these words true?’ If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go. At the second gate, we ask, ‘Are they necessary?’ If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go. At the third gate, we ask, ‘Are they kind?’ If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go.” The Dalai Lama says, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”