The Best Thing You Can Do Today: Be kind

Did you leap at the chance to wolf down a Big Mac during International Hamburger Day (May 28)? Look up fearfully at the sky on International Asteroid Day (June 30)? And have you started planning your party decorations for World Toilet Day (Nov. 20)?

No? That’s OK. The proliferation of National and World “Days” is getting kinda ridiculous. But today’s “Day” can (and should) be celebrated un-ironically. World Kindness Day is a truly international observance introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations’ kindness NGOs. Yes, there are apparently such things as “kindness NGOs,” which was news to me, especially since some of them exist in such currently kindness-impaired places as the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria. 

But NGO’s go where the need is, I guess, and hey, I said this day could be un-ironically celebrated, didn’t I? And you really can’t argue with a movement that encourages us to “make kindness the norm.” At RandomActsOfKindness.org, you’ll find a list of seven ways to do just that, including “#1: Send an uplifting text to a friend or family member,” “#5: Share a compliment with a co-worker,” and (my favorite, because it’s so not happening on Florida roadways) “#2: Let that guy merge into traffic with a wave and a smile.”

Try all seven! (At least for today.)