Acts of kindness have always been considered something special and we movies have presented them as if they are magic and they could fix anything. Funnily enough, Hollywood might not be too far from the truth.
Thirty years ago, kindness changed the world for Traci Bild. Back on Christmas Eve, in Urbana, Ohio, Traci’s family was going to have a sad Christmas, without any presents or tree. “My mom loves Christmas, we were very much about Christmas, but we just didn’t have any money for a Christmas tree. That was just the reality,” she explained.
Traci and her brother managed to find a few coins in the couch cushions, just some quarters and dimes. However, they had hoped and they went to a tree lot that was run by “Jug”, and ex Marina and Ohio State Trooper.
Jug was impressed by these children and they ended up receiving the biggest tree for free. “You know, the thought of my children, walking a couple of miles in hopes of finding on Christmas Eve a Christmas tree to take home to their mom, I can imagine that must have touched his heart,” added Traci.
Kindness is part of the human nature
Scientists appeared to confirm that kindness is indeed something special. “We’re genetically wired to be kind. It’s actually our deepest identity. “It’s when we’re not being kind that it’s unhealthy. It’s when we’re not being kind that we feel separate and we feel disconnected and we feel unhappy and something’s ‘out of sorts.'” said David Hamilton, a former organic chemist from Scotland. ”
According to Hamilton, being kind actually changes our internal biochemistry and there is a physical effect for any act of kindness, thanks to a hormone named oxytocin that is produced every time we are kind. As it turns out, the acts of kindness do not have to be something huge, and small gestures are just as good.
“One of the things that it does, it softens the wall of the arteries. It’s funny; it’s like a mirror. As you become softer towards people, so you soften on the inside. It actually softens the walls of the arteries. And when that happens, the heart doesn’t have to push as hard to get the blood through, so blood pressure drops,” added Hamilton.
Daily acts of kindness
Elizabeth Higgins Clark and her fiancée, Lauren Pomerantz, decided to take acts of kindness to another level by making one every day. They posted their progress on social media and used the hashtag #KeepAmericaKind.
Meanwhile, Brian Williams founded the program Think Kindness, teaching school kids that kind acts are important. “My job is to figure out a way to go into a school and make kindness cool,” Williams explained.
“It’s super important that we start kids early, to train them to say, look, every single day you have an opportunity to make a difference in the world, but it’s up to you as to whether you’ll take action.” Williams added.
He also convinced kids to become Kindness Ninjas. These little ninjas do little acts of kindness without anyone noticing them. “When we see those acts of kindness, it reinforces that belief, like, our world is good, our world is awesome, people are awesome, and we can all band together and make a difference,” said Williams.
Older students also participate in these activities, and they have organised a “kindness crew” that takes care of various campaigns. “It’s not something that’s you’re just going to go into classrooms one month and then it’s going to be like, oh, the whole school’s kind; it’s going to have to take convincing for those kids who don’t want to do it,’ said a”kindness crew” member, Zoey.
