Results: February 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day (Part 2 in the Unofficial Holidays Series)

American journalist Anne Herbert is generally credited with coining the phrase, "Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty." Writing on a restaurant placemat in 1982, Herbert took the phrase "random acts of violence, senseless acts of cruelty" and changed it to reflect something infinitely more positive. Have you ever heard someone use either phrase?

Random Acts of Kindness are meant to be unplanned, spontaneous acts that bring more kindness into the world. Do you think the world is less kind today than it was when your parents were the age you are now?

If you need suggestions on ways to show kindness, the internet can help. There are any number of websites and blogs offering their kind assistance. (And dear heavens, mentions of RAK on sites as varied as The Daniel Boone Regional Library and The State Bar of Michigan.) Do you have any ideas on ways to show kindness to others?

Where would you like to see more kindness?

These days, RAK can be a bit tricky. Offering to help the older woman struggling to move her groceries from the cart to the trunk may make said lady uncomfortable. Some folks get downright churlish if you offer to hold a door. But to my mind, it is the Senseless Acts of Beauty that are most problematic. (I for one am not sure anything beautiful is senseless.) And definitely prefer the sight of daisies growing wild along the roadside to the overly manicured and costly parking space shown as an example on the Senselessactsofbeauty.com website. Do you believe that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"

Have you performed an act of kindness since the start of the New Year?