WORLD KINDNESS DAY falls on the 13th November and is a nationally recognised day to celebrate kindness in society. Becca Fadden explains where it originated and how it came about.
The day was originally introduced globally in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement and is represented in the UK by World Kindness UK, which was created in 2010. It was inspired by Japan’s ‘Small Kindness Movement’, which was founded in 1963 after the President of Tokyo was mugged and no one helped him. Past celebrations of the day include: Kindness UK giving out 10,000 free chocolate bars in London train stations, World Kindness Australia organising a giant Kindness hug on Bondi Beach and a Kindness Awards Ceremony taking place in Parma organised by the Italian Kindness Movement. As you can see, kindness activities are very varied and look like a fun thing to be a part of!
People worldwide are encouraged to do an act of kindness, whether it’s small or big, random or planned, World Kindness Day’s aim is to promote kindness and get people to do kind things in their everyday lives. It is a day when many people will do a ‘random act of kindness’ or ‘pay it forward’ – a recent phenomena that allows individuals to perform a random and unplanned kind gesture to a friend or stranger, with the idea being that the person who received the kind gesture will go on and do a kind act for someone else. Ideas that you can do include: sending a nice message to a friend that you haven’t spoken to in a while, buying a coffee for the person behind you in line and donating some resources or time to a local charity.
The popularity of random acts of kindness can be said to be due to the current world we live in. It’s not always the kindest place, so by doing one small and kind thing for someone, you can help brighten their day and encourage them to do the same for someone else, spreading happiness and kindness to more people. Also, with the popularity of social media, users can encourage other users to go out and do a random act of kindness, and spread the word about being kind.
I think that World Kindness Day is a great idea, especially in today’s sometimes unkind world, and I will definitely be making an effort to do some acts of kindness not only on the 13th November but every day!
