A week to celebrate kindness

This week it’s not all just about Valentine’s day, at least not in the U.S. where, in these days they are celebrating the Random Acts of Kindness Week.

Finding that Valentine’s day was not the only celebration of the week wasn’t a big surprise. Thanks to the cultural melting pot, you can celebrate all sorts of festivities in the U.S.  You can choose to celebrate Saint Patrick’s day, drinking Guinness all night long or, if you’re more of a Margarita kind of person, you can celebrate Mexican pride on Cinco de Mayo. Americans have even invented the “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, when you can set your pirate self free and talk like a pirate…It has never made much sense to me, but what do I know? I’m European.

The relation between kindness and V-Day doesn’t need any explanation and makes this week particularly suitable to celebrate kindness. However we should probably think about the reason why they decided to dedicate a  week to celebrate kindness in the U.S. After all isn’t kindness the kind of attitude everyone should have? And most importantly shouldn’t it be mandatory, more than random?

According to the event organizers, the use of the word “random” is a response to the widely used phrase “random acts of violence”  and it doesn’t necessarily mean “unplanned”.  However the term “random” encourages people to look beyond their circle of friends and family and offer an unexpected  act of kindness to a stranger.

The week is promoted by The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, an institution for people committed to spreading kindness, which was established in 1995 and is funded by an anonymous philanthropist.  The Random Acts of Kindness Week is designed for those who want to call attention to the value of kind actions and to invite people to give and receive kindness daily.

On the foundation website you can find inspirational quotes, stories and ideas to celebrate kindness in our daily life and it also has a session dedicated to educators. As a matter of fact the foundation encourages teachers to celebrate the Random Acts of Kindness Week in their schools, and teach their students about kindness.  

If don’t want to start a Talk Like a Pirate Day in your country, you might think about organizing a Random Acts of Kindness Week in your community…Who couldn’t use some more kindness in their life, after all?