RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS WEEK PLANTS SEEDS IN THE AREA

It doesn't take much to plant a seed. Such is the case with Random Acts of Kindness Week, which is scheduled for May 11-17 in the Cape Girardeau area.

Already, more than 50 participants have signed up for the week representing more than 2,000 people. The seeds of this movement not only take hold and grow tall, they tend to blow. A word to a friend can spread the movement like wildfire. People are hungry in this world for a little kindness, and Random Acts of Kindness Week offers a good excuse to share good will with friends and strangers. It also provides a wonderful opportunity to spotlight people who do kind deeds all year long.

What is it all about? A random act of kindness is just that -- something nice you do just for the heck of it. The random part makes it all the more special. Volunteering is important in society, but for many people it becomes more like a job than a joy. Unexpected kindness works magic.

Last year, some 350 schools, businesses, churches, organizations or individuals representing about 20,000 people participated in the area's first Random Acts of Kindness Week. The observance spread to six Missouri counties and one county in Southern Illinois. It would be wonderful to surpass those numbers this year.

Free information packets are available at the Southeast Missourian along with bookmarks, posters, brochures, idea sheets, curriculum or community guides and colorful stickers proclaiming: "Warning, I practice random acts of kindness."

Kindnesses last year were as varied as the people who planned them. Some involved hundreds of people. Others were small kindnesses between strangers. Participants decide their own acts and when to do them -- that's the random part. The newspaper will run the names of all participants on the front page as a way to thank all those who take part in the week. Signing up is as easy as calling the Southeast Missourian at 573-335-6611 or 1-800-879-1210.

Sunday columnist Jean Bell Mosley summed up the week so succinctly last year: "Kindness is so easy to accomplish -- a smile, a wave, a thrown kiss, just reaching silently to touch someone who is struggling for composure, supplying your name when someone is striving to remember it, a nod of the head to denote understanding when someone is having trouble explaining."

The seeds of kindness have been planted. It is time for you to join in.