Kindness Movement Forges On Amid Cynicism
Molly Stuart’s Christmas wish list is longer than most, even though it lacks the usual electronic gadgets, jewelry or other gifts.
Stuart is president of the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, and her goal is to make kindness habit-forming.
“We’re a clearinghouse for kindness. We are grass-roots, and don’t initiate projects. We provide support materials, all free,” she said.
The philosophy of practicing “random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty” was developed two decades ago by Ann Herbert, an activist writer in the San Francisco area, as an antidote for the random acts of violence that had become common.
Later it was popularized in a book by Conari Press and once was a popular bumper sticker.
Stuart’s foundation has a staff of seven and a budget of $1 million donated by an anonymous philanthropist. It moved to Colorado from Berkeley in February 2000.
“Every day, 100 people call us thinking they can change the world. Some call because they want to feel like they are part of something greater. They enter the world of do-gooding through us and then they find something they have a passion for, like helping animal shelters,” Stuart said.
She knows the odds are against success, saying, “I don’t expect in my lifetime to see kindness spread around the world.” Her organization, working from a downtown office building, provides support for groups in 135 other countries.
Bonnie Cazolaio of Cortland, N.Y. , coordinates staff development for two school districts. “I read in 1997 that they had a teachers guide that was free so I sent for it,” she said.
In the latest project, teachers were given donated LifeSavers to hand out to each child observed committing a kind act or who described something kind done for them, she said.
“I love the people there. They have been very kind to me,” Cazolaio said.
The Rev. Debbie Taylor, a chaplain at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., also has worked with the foundation. “Kindness is the only thing I can think of that is going to get us up out of our cynicism,” the nondenominational minister said.
Dr. Redford Williams, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at Duke University and author of “The Trusting Heart: Great News About Type A Behavior,” says research shows that “people who have hostile, cynical and mistrusting attitudes have higher death rates from heart disease.”
“One of the ways to get out of that negative mind-set is to force yourself to be kind to other people. If we change the behavior the thoughts will follow.”