A LOT OF KINDNESS

What a week it was. People all over Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, either individually are as part of some group, found ways to show their kindness. And they did it again and again and again.

It all started with a gentle nudge only a few short days ago from the Southeast Missourian. Why not devote an entire week -- actually eight days -- to a celebration of kindness. That was the idea of Managing Editor Joni Adams. The rest was up to you.

Knowing that the people of this area are generous when it comes to fund drives and other efforts to help the needy, there was a high level of expectation that kindness would receive a hearty reaction. The extent of the interest, however, surpassed anything that could be imagined beforehand.

Today ends the first-ever Random Acts of Kindness Week in these parts. This closing comes after some 20,000 individuals, mostly through churches, businesses, schools and clubs, found ways to get involved in some special kindness.

All of this activity certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by the hundreds of recipients of various kindnesses.

And the rest of the country has taken note too. News organizations as far away as California called to find out more about what a community does during a kindness week. Even the popular "Oprah" television show made inquiries after reading about Random Acts of Kindness Week in an Associated Press story.

All of the special expressions of kindness were wonderful. Throughout the week, the Southeast Missourian has tried to highlight some of the special stories each day. Those accounts of good deeds have been uplifting, and they have had the effect of renewing the human spirit in many ways, some small and some large.

Even Speak Out, best known for its caustic and pointed opinions, gave way for the entire eight days to positive comments. Before Random Acts of Kindness Week started, there were several doubters that anyone would call Speak Out to say something nice. But call they did. Lots of times.

There will be, it can be hoped, some lasting effects as a result of Random Acts of Kindness Week. As many people have said over and over during this past week, kindness isn't a one-week-a-year kind of behavior. How true. What the week revealed was large numbers of people who regularly, frequently and unselfishly are kind to one another. The week put these good folks under a magnifying glass just for a little while.

There are many ways to describe the caring and giving of kindness, especially during a week devoted to it. One that hasn't been used a lot deserves to be stated outright:

Wasn't it fun?

How much better the day goes, how much brighter our lives are, how much happier our friends and neighbors are when the focus of attention is doing something kind for someone else.

It doesn't get much better than that. So watch out next year. Some week -- randomly selected, of course -- there is likely to be another Random Acts of Kindness Week.