In the News: Give a Gift of Kindness

Seattlepi.com writer Don Smith recently reported on random acts of kindness spreading through the line at his local coffeehouse. A woman in line paid for a cup of coffee for the woman behind her — because someone had done the same thing for her the previous day. The recipient of that gift continued the random act by handing the barista a $5 tip and telling her to do the same for someone else.

Yesterday, Tonic's founder sent me a link to a terrific story from ESPN. Apparently, a high school football team's coach asked half his team's fans to cheer for the other team at a recent game in their hometown of Grapevine, Texas. You see, the visiting team was from a teen correctional facility and had no fans to cheer them on. Used to jeers from society, the troubled youth encountered unexpected cheers and support when they began their game with the Grapevine hometown team. Grapevine Faith's coach Kris Hogan recounted his idea:

What if half of our fans — for one night only — cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send." Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

This is truly a message with which I can wholeheartedly agree. I hope these amazing acts of kindness — as small as buying a complete stranger a cup of coffee to something as grand as asking hundreds of your team's fans to cheer on the underdog — are a part of your life, especially in the midst of this economically challenging holiday season.

If you are determining how to make this a joyful holiday for yourself, your family and your friends (and even if you are not affected by layoffs and other recent snags with the economy), consider committing a random act of kindness yourself. They are inexpensive and will have a huge impact on whomever you grace with with an unexpected gift of coffee, a meal, a hug or even that extra movie ticket that you decided to buy for the person behind you in line. I also guarantee that the biggest beneficiary of a random act of kindness will be you. Try it. You just might like it!

And, if you witness a random act of kindness in your community, be sure to let all of us at Tonic News know by emailing me at dan[at]tonic.com. Who knows, you might actually inspire a "pay it forward." Finally, Happy Holidays from all of us at Tonic News.