SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: RETURN SEATS TO UPRIGHT POSITION, YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE KINDNESS ZONE

This is a bad day for me to be writing about Random Acts of Kindness Week. Maybe that's for the best since it's over.

Yes, you may return your seats to their upright position because you are now leaving the Kindness Zone; and not a moment too soon.

Don't get me wrong, I think kindness has its place. Doled out in moderation it can even be refreshing. But a solid week of smiling, happy people doing unexpected nice things for total strangers is a bit unnerving. Maybe I'm just not used to good surprises.

Kindness Week was, well ... kind, to those of us here in the newsroom. Many sweet and chocolatey gifts were left at our doorstep. There is nothing scarier than watching a group of reporters devour free food.

I myself put away nearly a whole coffee cake, generously donated by the Jackson High School newspaper staff.

It's rare to find a reporter who is weight-conscious. Heidi Nieland was one. Tamara Zellars Buck is always saying she's dieting, usually as she comes trudging into work with a Dairy Queen take-out bag tucked under one arm. Scott Moyers probably demonstrates the reporter's attitude toward dieting better than anyone.

He'll start in on one end of a Burger King deep-fried chicken-and-cheese sandwich with extra mayo and by the third bite, a pained expression will cross his features and he'll say, "I really need to lose some weight." Then he'll resume eating with the same gusto as before.

I am very weight-conscious but share the same lack of willpower as my co-workers. You put food in front of me and I'll eat it. I usually don't say anything like, "I've got to go on a diet." I know myself better than that. I usually say something like, "I've really got to start running again."

I picture myself running, and the weight melting off me like a stick of butter off a steaming corn cob. I think to myself, "If I get thin I can eat anything I want."

It doesn't help when a week where everybody you meet is forcing candy, cookies, banana bread and coffee cakes on you at every turn. Especially when the week falls on a non-pay period. Common sense and moderation go flying out the window when faced with the question, "Should I eat this tasty free food or go home and boil up a bag of Ramen noodles?"

But one week of gluttony is not going to hurt me in the long run. Just like one week of kindness, one week of smiling happily and writing happy stories is not going to hurt me.

Nor is one week of people doing unexpectedly kind things for strangers going to hurt anyone else. It actually was fun seeing people get a kick out of being kind to their fellow man. It's strange that this is such a foreign concept to most of us.

Why isn't it cool to be kind?

David Angier is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.