A perfect society would consist of an atmosphere where random acts of kindness were a normal part of everyone’s daily life. Not only does one experience a sensation of relief and joy whenever performing an act of kindness, the deed also affects the person whom the kindness was directed towards. A random act of kindness is a widely known subject. However, the effects of the action are not as well known. In today’s society, between all of the cars, cellphones, money, jobs, new technology etc. it becomes easier to be wrapped up or conceited with one’s self, forgetting about others. A random act of kindness can bring a person out of this conceited stage. A random act of kindness is doing a selfless act, big or small, without expecting anything in return (Random Acts of Kindness). There are a plethora of affects that come along with doing this specific task. For example, by carrying out a random act of kindness, it affects the presenter along with the receiver psychologically as well as physically.
The first area that acts of kindness influence involves psychological aspects. One result when performing this task is it allows one to become happier. When focusing on another person, it reduces feelings of loneliness or isolation and can also help to cope with depression. While in the service of others, endorphins are released which are associated with happiness. The discharge of these endorphins provides a longer feeling of calmness and a higher sense of well-being (The Health Benefits of Kindness). In other words, small acts of kindness have a great effect on moods. In return, your mood determines what the rest of the day will be like. Service involves one person focusing on the needs of another. This provides a period of time in which...
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The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn is a small book that left a large impact on my life. It begins by Sanborn meeting Fred, his mailman. Except Fred is no ordinary mailman—he is the most caring, passionate, and interested mailman Sanborn had ever met. After meeting Fred, Sanborn kept meeting “Freds” everywhere. Be it at a hotel, coffee shop, or the airport, he always met people that make the ordinary extraordinary. Throughout the rest of the book, Sanborn teaches us how to find Freds everywhere, and how we can be Freds ourselves. This book truly changed how I feel about random acts of kindness and made me want to become a Fred myself.
In today’s society, acts of compassion are rare as we get more and more focused on satisfying our desire for success and wealth. However, humans do sometimes show remarkable acts that melts the hearts of men and women and restore faith in humanity within those who are less optimistic. But it might not always be a kind return that you may get from such action. In the story “Sweat” by Barry Webster, a young girl named Sue allows Jimmy as an act of kindness to lick her “honey” on her body. As a result, Jimmy chokes from the honey and Sue gets more rejected from the other students at her school. By using characterization, dialogue and narration, Webster demonstrates the theme that compassion and kindness can bring more consequences than benefits when these actions are done by those who are different.
“Making a Difference” by June Callwood is an expository essay created to inspire the reader to make a change in the world around them, and to stand up for what they believe in. By just doing simple, positive things, people can make a huge impact on their lives and the lives of people around them. June Callwood, author of “Making a Difference”, changes the way many people see the world by describing scientific research and telling the stories of people who performed small, random acts of kindness that made a huge difference in people’s attitudes and the community around them.
My attention was also drawn to several questions in this podcast, which made me eager to find the answers to these questions. For example, one interesting question I heard was “when you do see generosity how do you know it’s really generous” (Levy, 2010). This question stood out to me because it is one particular question I don’t think about often and made me wonder whether people help someone out because they see it as a duty. However, I believe the best answer to this question is the portrayal of the concept of norm of reciprocity, which indicates “the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future” (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2013, p.303). This is true because “generosity” happens when both persons are nice to each other and if an individual helps another person then it’s easy to assume that the person who was
Contributing to prosocial behavior is something that everyone should make an effort at doing especially given that the United States has such an individualist culture. In all five of the situations, I learned that the smallest things like a compliment can make someone’s day which I think is mentally beneficial on both ends. I enjoyed giving out positive energy and I even made friends out of my behaviors. It was very self-rewarding knowing that I made a difference in someone’s day.
Kindness can really make a difference in a person's attitude. In “A Christmas Carol”, the Cratchits and Scrooge's nephew Fred show kindness to Scrooge, even though Scrooge showed quite the opposite to them. Or in “Thank you M’am”, when Ms. Jones makes Roger food and gives him money to buy his shoes, instead of reporting him to the police. Even in “Little Things Are Big”, when Jesus decides to help people even if he has to face prejudism. These stories all show turning points, and these examples show
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn life around.” Says Leo Buscaglia; a teacher of special education at the University of Southern California.
People perpetrate seemingly selfless acts almost daily. You see it all over the news; the man who saved that woman from a burning building, the mother who sacrificed herself to protect her children from the bomb blast. But how benevolent are these actions? Are these so-called “heroes” really sacrificing themselves to help others? Until recently, it was the common belief that altruism, or selfless and unconditional kindness, was limited primarily to the human race. However, within the last century, the works of several scientists, most prominently George Price, have provided substantial evidence concluding that altruism is nothing more than a survival technique, one that can be calculated with a simple equation.
Dach-Gruschow, Karl Otto. Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Men: Altruism of Long Term Volunteers Diss. University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamaign, 2011. Print.
...esult, the more directly one sees their personal efforts impact someone else, the more happiness one can gain from the experience of giving. Sometimes generosity requires pushing past a feeling of reluctance because people all instinctively want to keep good things for themselves, but once one is over this feeling, they will feel satisfaction in knowing that they have made a difference in someone else’s life. However, if one lives without generosity but is not selfish, they can still have pleasure from other virtues.
When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. We feel good for looking outside ourselves and contributin...
Aesop once stated, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” In this time period, many people around the globe only focus on their life, and they do not focus on lifting others up. Kindness is one word that can change lives, even when the person that shows kindness doesn’t even know the impact they are making. One act of kindness does not appear to be very important, but every act makes an impact. The world is full of hatred, war, and terrorism, but anybody can start to make a change. Some reasons that any act of kindness has an impact include other people needing positivity, the start of a chain reaction, and the benefit of other people in the world.
My favorite act of kindness is complimenting someone, because it lights up their face and a wide smile usually spreads across their face. I know that when I’ve been complimented, it often makes
The norm of reciprocity can cause us to behave in both negative and positive ways towards our neighbours. Entirely altruistic behaviour is rare and egoistic motivations often underlie actions which cause the betterment of others lives. Just as a chimpanzee will groom another's body with the expectation of receiving the same service in return, so do we help others in the hope of being rewarded in some fashion, be it recognition, the avoidance of guilt or the long term well being of the group t...