World Kindness Day should be a reminder to always be kind, regardless of the holiday.
Nov. 13 was World Kindness Day, an internationally recognized event which prompts people to be kind in everything they do. The holiday is behind us now, but the discussion around kindness must continue if we want to foster a truly kind world.
At Brock, students were welcomed to the school on Nov. 13 by a table with a note offering free coffee. In the U.S., Krispy Kreme gained media attention for offering free donuts to the first 500 guests at each shop.
These are definitely nice actions, but they somewhat miss the point when it comes to fostering kindness. A free coffee and a donut might brighten your morning, but does it really make a lasting impact? These are commodities, $5 worth of goods that will disappear in five minutes. Even the truly kind actions Brock puts on, like positive notes or hugs from Boomer, only last a day. Good intentions aside, it’s a marketing ploy when such initiatives exist solely within a 12-hour time frame.
Kindness should be more than just commodities and practiced more than just a single day out of the year. Don’t get me wrong, a friend buying you a coffee or bringing a bottle of wine to your party can be an act of kindness, but so often this exchange becomes transactional: “do something nice for me and I’ll repay you in kind.” This is not what true kindness is really about.
So often we focus on individual benefit, but we are not individual creatures, even if our capitalistic society makes us out to be. We need friends and family to uplift us; we need community. We need to be selfless and help others, because only then will we be helped ourselves.
Compliment the people you admire, even when you’re just walking through the halls. Look at people, at least. Smile. Ask how others are doing, even when you’re struggling yourself. Be kind. Every single day, be kind, because that’s how you build a community.
Today, we need kindness more than ever. If the recent American election shows anything, it’s that individual gain is increasingly trumping social concerns to the point of oppression, hostility and persecution. Social media is a warzone of mandated misinformation and cruelty; the world is seemingly spinning out of control before our very eyes, and what can be done?
I won’t be so naive to say that promoting kindness will somehow bring world peace, but maybe if we worked to break down the individualistic shells that seem to form crusts around everyone, we could foster a greater sense of understanding and empathy. Maybe we’d be less inclined to bully each other if we had conversations or learned about each other’s interests and passions.
Being kind is just easier. Research by Brock researcher Dr. Sandra Bosacki finds that being kind can increase one’s well-being, especially if that kindness is practiced from an early age. With our actions impacting the perspectives of today’s youth — who are already targeted by toxic behaviours and attitudes online — implementing greater levels of kindness into mainstream media and everyday life is incredibly important.
Kindness is not just a series of actions, it’s a way of living. World Kindness Day can be a helpful reminder to spread joy and positivity, but if our kindness ceases at the end of the day, then it is a useless holiday. Kindness needs to permeate our lives and seep into our communities. If it doesn’t, then maybe the world is as topsy-turvy as people suggest.
I refuse to believe that’s true.