LOCAL ACTS OF KINDNESS TO BE RECOGNIZED

Practice random kindness and acts of senseless beauty.

-- Anne Herbert

In a little less than a month, a remarkable happening will unfold in the Cape Girardeau area. Random Acts of Kindness Week will be observed locally May 12-18. It kicks off, appropriately, on Mother's Day.

The region will join a kindness revolution that has stretched from coast to coast since 1995, involving more than 250 communities.

The Southeast Missourian newspaper will coordinate the week, encouraging participation by churches, schools, businesses, organizations and individuals. More than 1,000 letters will be mailed or faxed this week to potential participants.

Brochures, posters, bookmarks, teacher's handbooks, and stickers will be available free of charge at the newspaper office later this week. The bright-yellow stickers with a daisy motif announce to all: "Warning, I practice random acts of kindness."

A random act of kindness is just that -- an unexpected act of consideration that comes from a friend or stranger for no special reason.

It may be students writing thank-you notes to teachers. It may be businesses sending "kindness squads" to visit hospital patients. It may be as simple as letting the person behind you in line at the grocery store go ahead of you or giving someone else your parking space.

There is no shortage of kindness ideas, but for those needing help a long list is available at the Southeast Missourian, 301 Broadway.

The newspaper will transform into "Kindness Central" during the week: The Speak Out line will be suspended for a kindness hotline; people will be encouraged to call in kindnesses done to them, and these stories will be reprinted.

The daily special pages -- such as Business, Learning, Home, Arts & Leisure, Health and Lifestyle -- will be replaced by features of area people with a history of kindness. Individuals with story ideas can contact the newsroom at 335-6611, Ext. 121. Names of participating businesses, clubs, churches and organizations will be listed.

Front-page stories will spotlight special activities sponsored during the week.

Four Random Acts of Kindness books have been published by Conari Press, and a national kindness foundation was established two years ago in Fairfax, Calif. Director Nancy Briggin coordinated national kindness weeks in both 1995 and 1996.

Briggin believes many people pass up opportunities of kindness every day outside their immediate circle of family and friends.

"You may see a person struggling with too many packages. A little voice tells you to help them, but you hold back. You don't want to insult them," said Briggin. "We encourage people to let down some of their defenses and act on their instincts, which are usually right."

The National Foundation for Random Acts of Kindness helps communities observe kindness weeks.

"We're encouraging people to get back into the simple day-in and day-out kindnesses that make a difference in a community," said Briggin. "Kindness is a very emotional thing. You're touching a place in people's hearts that is very pure, very magical. Kindness can really make a difference."

The St. Cloud-Times newspaper in St. Cloud, Minn., sponsored a kindness week this year and was overwhelmed by the response. More than 500 people called a kindness hotline, and more than 270 businesses signed up to participate.

"It turned into such a phenomenon in town that we literally couldn't keep up with it," said John Bodette of the Times.

Mona Roth found kindness contagious when she coordinated a similar observance in Wausau, Wis., in February. About 200 businesses and organizations participated. More than 400 calls flooded the kindness hotline.

"We talk about being kind. We know we should do it. We commend other people when they do it," said Roth. "But when it comes right down to it, we probably are not doing it enough."