Deliberate Acts of Kindness

Welcome to the last week of March, the first days of April, the beginning of baseball and, of course, our favorite time of year: The season of Deliberate Acts of Kindness.

What, you haven't heard of the season of Deliberate Acts of Kindness? Say it ain't so! How could this possibly be? Have you been living under a rock for the last six months? Been floating aimlessly on a raft in the middle of the ocean with no WiFi? Only watching DVDs or movies online? Avoiding any opportunity to hear news of the world? (If so, you've missed Japan, Egypt, Elizabeth, a new war, gas price gouging, the Giants winning the World Series, to name a few.) Following The Dance too closely (if that's possible) and obsessing about not taking the obvious picks of VCU and Butler to make the Final Four? Been hibernating?

Regardless, you clearly missed the declaration that the season of Deliberate Acts of Kindness begins this year on March 28 at your sunrise. Which means, of course, that the season has begun. So, welcome to the best season of the year!

What is the season of Deliberate Acts of Kindness you ask? Our initial response: Must we explain everything? (Sorry. That wasn't terribly kind. In the spirit of the season, please forgive us. We'll try again.)

The season of Deliberate Acts of Kindness is that time of the year when we are all called upon to seek opportunities to demonstrate friendliness and generosity continuously. Key concepts include:

1. Finding opportunities to be friendly, generous and/or considerate
   
2. Demonstrating friendliness, generosity and/or consideration for others, and
   
3. Repeating steps 1 and 2 until the end of the season.
   

The list of possible deliberate acts of kindness is endless. But, since it's the season let us provide 20 useful ideas to get you going:

• Holding doors for others (heard this from us before?)
  
• Helping those less mobile cross the street (Way to go Alonzo Mourning!)
• Thanking those who work with you for all they do
• Reconnecting with a long-lost friend
  
• Donating to a charity, any charity
• Slowing down to allow someone to merge into traffic (If you're the recipient, remember to wave!)
  
• Sending flowers to your mother (she'll love it)
  
• Sending flowers to your father (he'll dig it)
• Calling a member of your extended family just to say 'hi' (Call us old school, but texting does NOT qualify here as an act of kindness!)
• Giving your car and the Earth a break by taking alternate modes of transportation a day or two each week
  
• Planting a garden
• Bringing coffee or tea to a stressed co-worker or, yes, even your boss
  
• Being polite to telemarketers (They're people too. Really.)
• Greeting people with genuine warmth and a hug
• Giving that guy you avoid eye contact with every day on the street on your way to work a buck or two
• Calling or hugging your kid(s), just because
• Joining a museum
• Volunteering even if only for an hour
• Call that friend who you know needs help and offer support, even if only emotional
  
• Be polite to Dodger fans (Like telemarketers, they, too, are people.)
  

That's just 20 possibilities. Add your own flair, your own creativity. Find ways to help and support others, to make people around you feel better, to honor the contributions of those with whom you work, to add a bit more joy to the lives of friends, family and, given the season, strangers. Find ways to relieve the burden on the environment. Provide assistance -- time and/or money -- to organizations striving to feed, educate or inspire others. Be genuinely polite, even warm and appreciative, to those who have impossible jobs.

The season of Deliberate Acts of Kindness has begun! Start today to spread happiness with verve, determination, and passion. Remember, with any luck what goes around comes around.

One last point. No end date for the season has been set. We wouldn't have it any other way.