Beforehand, I was the kid that never initiated conversations and frankly, meeting new people made me uncomfortable. However, as an active member of my community, my shell of awkwardness and seclusiveness slowly broke down with every service event that I was a part of. I waited for the first time in Freshman year during a charity dinner and the gratitude I received back was quite astounding to me. They all shook my hand, had bright smiles, and one man specifically thanked me for making his night. While my guests experienced joy through my waiting, I experienced likewise from their response. Instead of a risk for an embarrassing situation, I realized that helping people brought me genuine…
I recently read a book called A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews. The protagonist is a teenage girl named Nomi. Nomi is growing up trapped in a small Mennonite community called East Village in the middle of nowhere, in Canada. All her life Nomi was told what to believe, with heavy emphasis on the belief that living dutifully and by the word of God in this life would guarantee salvation in the next. In Nomi’s town, you were either good or bad. There was no in between, no room for individuality or mistakes. Those who went through their life there quietly, going to church every Sunday and working at the local chicken slaughtering plant after graduation, were considered to be on their way up. Those were the people who at the end of a long, uneventful life, would be greeted happily by Jesus and live forever in his kingdom of glory. Those who broke out of the mould were doomed. Since non-conformists were clearly speeding down the highway to hell anyways, they were excommunicated from the church and forced to either leave the community or live without recognition from even their own family.…
“Fire and Rain” by James Taylor is a song mentioned in A Complicated Kindness that Nomi can relate to easily. James Taylor was born March, 12th 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, although he was mainly raised in North Carolina. By age 14, Taylor was writing songs, singing, and had learned to play the guitar and cello. In 1966, he moved to New York City to form a band with some of his friends and by the end of the year they were performing regularly at cafes. Unfortunately, while in New York, Taylor lost himself in drug abuse for a time, but would later lead to the inspiration of some of his songs, including “Fire and Rain”. After he was back on track with his life, he recorded a few demos and had them sent to Paul McCartney, whose label signed Taylor immediately. A few weeks later, he fell back into his old habits of drug abuse, and was hospitalized in Massachusetts. After his recovery, in 1970, Taylor released his single “Fire and Rain” which was inspired by his experiences with drug abuse, depression, the suicide of his friend Suzanne, and the institutional psychiatric treatments he received. (“James Taylor Biography”).…
Recognizing the personal benefits of being nice might motivate us to do it a little more often like when an opponent gives you a harsh tackle in a soccer game.…
How this theory explains the behavior: To be able to give back to the community and engaging in a selfless act places a larger meaning to my and my family’s life that material possessions could never replace. To be able to look among diverse faces with the same smile and see the gratitude in their faces makes life more purposeful. It brings out the positives and potential in our lives that can truly make a difference in the world we live in. Acts of kindness mold my children and others into caring individuals who value people and their differences without judgement or…
1. On a Friday afternoon, I helped my mom wash the laundry. While she was cooking food for dinner, I washed the clothe without her noticing. After an hour, every clothe was clean and folded. The look on her face said it all, she was surprised and happy. The way I felt that day was great and supportive.…
In our fast paced society it is easy to lose track of the things you live for. So many burdens of society clutter our lives that it is often hard to concentrate on anything else. Our relentless routines begin to control our lives before we realize it. Constantly stressing over work and bills that the anxiety clouds our perception and you forget what you once lived for. Your personality transforms into one that is not your own and you become frustrated with life. As I walk the halls at school I observe the interactions of all the people. With most everyone it is the same. They are insecure and develop many misconceptions about their peers. Too many people attempt to form opinions on those around them without enough real insight of who that person is. Most forget that others have issues outside of what it might appear, and the situation may be worse than they would ever let on. There are always reasons for a persons actions, and are almost always in good intention; no matter how they turn out. We are too quick to form opinions and consistently do not take the time to actually understand a person. Some people have complex personalities and are currently in complex situations.…
Everyday, millions of poor people wander the streets trying to better themselves, only to be casted out by society. I sometimes try to give those poor souls some loose change because I know that they are struggling. Likewise, if I see someone drop something, I’ll help them pick it up. Even if I hear about the struggles that people are enduring in foreign countries, I try to help out in any way that I can. I do these things because I know that they are helping people, and I know that my actions are appreciated. This is called being generous, and after seventeen years of being exposed to the cruelness of this world, it is definitely the most important quality to have.…
Many of these acts of kindness occur when a person values another person equally, if not more than themselves. As mentioned before, there are tons of things that I do on a daily basis that are simple acts of altruism and I feel good about doing them. For this matter, I plan to continue helping others and do what I can without expecting anything in return. As a social worker, I plan to return to a university to teach social work based course and within my teaching methods I plan to instill altruistic ideals and attitudes within the students. By doing so, I believe that this will help us to begin to value others just same, or more, than…
There are a myriad of benefits that you’ll gain by displaying good behaviour. First and foremost, courtesy begets courtesy, it means that if you are polite to others, the others will do the same thing to you. This is because what goes around comes around. Saying thank you to a good deed will brighten up your day.…
Kindness is crucial in helping others in numerous ways. Showing kindness to others is essential because you never know what others are experiencing. From simply having a bad day to living in dire situations, every person desires kindness. In the article, “Teaching Kindness” the author states ,” As minds and bodies grow, it’s abundantly clear that children require a healthy dose of the warm-and-fuzzies to thrive as healthy, happy, well-rounded individuals.” It can impact the children when you show them kindness because it shows them that someone actually cares and wants to help them have fun or anything else. It can also help me because when I noticed others happen, it brightens my day. It reminds me that people do matter and that showing…
Time and time again, our society feels the need to remind us of the remarkable altruistic deeds of people like Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale, and also retell the parable of the Good Samaritan. However, our society recognizes that everyone is not cut from the same cloth and capable of performing immense altruistic deeds, but it shares these stories in hopes of encouraging even the smallest acts of kindness and selflessness as we go about in our daily life. Thomas, Baston and Coke explored how paragons of altruism influence motivation for helping and self-perceived altruism. They hypothesize that people who offer help after observing to very helpful people will decrease their self-perceived altruism because subjects will attribute their motivation to help to the extrinsic pressure rather than their own intrinsic altruism.…
Someone dragged a coin along the bonnet of a car belonging to a friend of mine. He took it to a smash repair company near his work for the scratch to be touched up. When he went to pick up the car, he was surprised to be told that there was no charge. A little overwhelmed by it all, my friend mentioned that if he ever had an accident, he would bring his car to that establishment for repair. The owner replied, "Sir, I hope you never have an accident."…
Batson C.D. (2000) Altruism: Why do we help others? Psychology review, vol 7, No. 1 2-5.…
As will be discussed in class this Thursday (1/29/15), your first formal writing assignment is to write a standard 3 page essay, with a beginning (intro), middle (body), and end (conclusion). This is a Random Acts of Kindness paper and can be on any kind thing you choose to do over the weekend, or in the days after. Your Random Act of Kindness must be an original act, or based on examples I provide in class, and/or are generated by class discussion. Please base your essay on the specific act you chose to bestow. This must be a new “thing” that you do now, NOT a past act. Things to consider: why you chose your act, the reaction of the recipient, and how you felt during and after completing this assignment. For example - the first page may contain your initial thoughts (after you create a totally awesome first line “hook,” of course)when assigned this essay and your thought process in deciding what and when to do your RAOK; while the “body” of your paper (or page 2) may contain the process that you actually went through to carry out your RAOK; and lastly (or page 3) will conclude your experience, perhaps contain the reaction of the benefactor and how their reaction made you feel. All aspects of this assignment either have been or will be discussed and modeled in class. Your rough draft should be typed, MLA formatted, and be 3 full pages in length. You will need to bring a hard copy rough draft in to class for peer edits- remember, the more you bring in for peer edit, the more you have increased your opportunity for feedback and your ability to make informed revisions, but at the VERY least, you must bring in two FULL pages (that is not 1 and 1/2 pages or 1 page, that is TWO FULL pages) to receive credit. Your grade is a combination of following all directions, and submitting both your RD and your final paper on time, according to the due dates and instructions. Therefore, you must meet all aspects of the assignment to earn a grade higher…