CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE: IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO GET OUT THERE AND BE NICE

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.

-- Aesop

When George Bush got to the White House a few years ago, he called for a "kinder, gentler nation."

I didn't agree with President Bush on many issues (although no one could call his stand on broccoli wimpy), but it's hard to argue when someone says it's time we were all nicer to one another.

It probably wouldn't be very nice to say I hate it when a Republican's right. Lucky for us all it doesn't happen too often.

Sorry. It just slipped out. Let's try again. Sometimes you don't have to be cruel to be kind.

Kindness, like gravity, isn't always easily explained, but it's a big part of what makes the world go 'round.

Like salt, goodwill makes everything a little more palatable. But it's better for your blood pressure.

And everyone else's.

So get out there and be nice! Share your toys, use your turn signals, say "please" and "thank you." Hand out flowers. Do a friend's grocery shopping. Plant a tree. Give blood. Bake cookies. Get a mammogram or take a friend to get hers.

If you didn't learn it in kindergarten, it's not too late for a lesson in remedial kindness.

When, in Aesop's fable the mouse took the thorn out of the lion's paw, he wasn't just being nice. He was risking his life.

Kindness does not have to be life-threatening. It can be life-altering, and without it, the world would be a sorry place.

Those of us who are not naturally kind shake our heads in wonderment, and occasionally disdain and even envy, at those of you who are.

How do you do it?

And what can the rest of us do?

Sending flowers to a co-worker you usually trade jabs with is kind. (Or Olympic-style head games.) Starting an office pool on who will get the biggest bouquet is not.

Sometimes kindness lies in finding the right words to say. And quite often, saying nothing at all is the nicest thing you could ever do for someone.

If I can't manage kindness, maybe I can practice random acts of discretion this week.

Sometimes the kindest friends are the ones who either don't let us make fools of ourselves in the first place or don't tell anyone about it afterwards.

Here in the newsroom, we've met all kinds of nice people in the last week or so, and we hope we'll meet many more this week who'll set examples for all of us.

Getting our "good news" fix should be easy this week. I imagine we'll have our fair share of the other stuff, too.

Newsrooms aren't normally places where everyday kindnesses get headlines. Reporters like to think we're better at painstakingly-choreographed "random" acts of sarcasm.

Actually, most of us are. Some of us are really marshmallows, but since marshmallows often wind up squashed or toasted, we try to hide that.

In the meantime, bite your tongue, wave at your neighbor and make a few new friends.

And call your mother. She worries about you.

~Peggy O'Farrell is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.