Random Acts of Kindness: An Illustrated Celebration

By Editors of Conari Press

Best of the Inspirational Stories That Triggered a Kindness Movement

True stories, thoughtful quotations and suggestions to inspire readers to live more compassionately.

Experience a book-inspired phenomenon. The unprecedented success of Random Acts of Kindness not only inspired many individuals to be kinder, but also led Congress to declare a National Random Acts of Kindness Week in February 1995. The inspiration for the kindness movement, the book Random Acts of Kindness, is an antidote for a weary world. Its true stories, thoughtful quotations, and suggestions for generosity should inspire you to live more compassionately and be a kinder person.

Own the special gift edition. This collection of the "best of the Random Acts” series includes stories of men, women, and children who've reached out to perform acts of kindness that brighten days, improve lives, and sometimes even save others. What if all of a sudden everyone started performing good deeds every day? This inspiring collection presents many true stories of people who've committed, received, and observed voluntary acts of kindness. Hearing their stories reveals how these simple, small acts of goodness can have a profoundly positive effect in the world. This beautiful new edition also includes hundreds of new ideas that readers can use to perform their own random acts and celebrate kindness.

Readers of motivational books and stories like Chicken Soup for the Soul: Random Acts of Kindness, A Pebble for Your Thoughts, I've Been Thinking…, and You Can Do All Things will love the encouraging, inspirational stories in Random Acts of Kindness: An Illustrated Celebration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781609253578

Book preview

First published in 2010 by

Red Wheel/Weiser,

llc

With offices at:

500 Third Street, Suite 230

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright © 2010 by The Editors of Conari Press.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser,

llc

. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Portions of this text appeared in slightly different form in Random Acts of Kindness (2002), More Random Acts of Kindness (2007), and Practice Random Acts of Kindness (2007).

ISBN: 978-1-57324-484-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

is available upon request.

Cover and text design by Tracy Johnson

Typeset in Baskerville, Bree, Gotham, and Oksana

Cover and text illustration © ShadyMaple/iStockphoto.com

Printed in Hong Kong

GWP

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside.

It is as though something inside your body responds and says,

Yes, this is how I ought to feel.

—Rabbi Harold Kushner

Introduction

So many gods, so many creeds,

So many paths that wind and wind,

While just the art of being kind

Is all the sad world needs.

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Our world can seem like a sad place. Open the newspaper and draw in the suffering, the pain, the palpable sense of lack. Or, occasionally, read something that lifts the spirits, like a Thanksgiving Day article about a mother who must choose between making her mortgage payment and sending money to her daughter for groceries. She misdials her daughter’s phone number, and the stranger who gets the recorded message gets in touch with the family and delivers enough groceries for a turkey feast and to feed them until the next paycheck comes. I helped people, says the Good Samaritan. I think it’s what anybody would have done.

The stories in this book are as varied as the people telling them, but at the foundation of each is a very simple and compassionate connection between strangers who, for a moment, experienced one another not as strangers, but as family. In a sense, kindness truly is the acting out of our deep and real connection to everyone and everything around us.

It is the realization that all of us are in fact—not just in theory or theology—in this together.

Kindness is what we do, person to person, moment to moment. It is about being who we truly are. Its power is not only easily accessible to anyone who cares to use it, but it also can never be diminished; it expands with every action. It has the ability to utterly transform another person’s life through the simplest of actions. It has the capacity to return us to the very core of our humanity. Kindness can and does open hearts, erase boundaries, and change lives. Here’s to celebrating the glorious acts of kindness commemorated in these pages, to the many more happening all over the world right this moment, and to the many yet to come!

The quality of mercy is not strained,

it dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven

upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:

it blesseth him that giveth and him that takes.

—William

Reviews for Random Acts of Kindness

[bohemiangirl35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of "quotable quotes" and super short stories contains some of the usual quotes you expect to find, but also some "new" ones; at least they were new to me. The book is a very quick read and worth it for the unique and inspirational nuggets within. Thank you to Linda for sharing.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I was very young I wondered how "older" people became so cranky and so disenchanted with life. Now that I've crossed the threshold of becoming one of the "older" people, I sometimes marvel that it is a miracle if, after weathering so much, we don't naturally become cranky.After a post Christmas crisis with a few of my partner's family members from his father's side -- those on his mother's side are lovely, kind, sensitive and considerate -- I realized that I no longer want to be around nasty, negative people. I felt abused and beaten down, and after tolerating this behavior for far too long, I said enough, and now I refuse to be around these two incredibly unkind and wicked folk.When I found this book, it seemed to be just what I needed, ie, a reminder that there are many who are kind and dare to pay a price for their kindness. And, I do firmly believe that there is a price we pay if we are kind and sensitive.At the risk of waxing philosophically, I'm going out on a limb to say that far too often in life it seems that the negative, snippy, back stabbers blithely go through life without paying a price for those them harm.While some of the quotes and stories in this book are trite, there are gems of wisdom scattered throughout. In remembering those who have helped me along the way, I quote the following:"One can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay "in kind" somewhere else in life."Anne Morrow Lindberg"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people."Abraham Heschel

[kellyholmes-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A neat idea, and a sweet book.