One random act of kindness a day

Yes, i know. The title makes it sound like this is going to be an aging hippy blog about us all loving each other and being nice and while that is an ideal, its not a realistic concept as humans are basically, well, not very nice. Our default state appears to be apathy, followed closely by denial and if pressed dips into nastiness. Let me break it down.

The human condition:

Apathy - "well it's not happening here, so why should we worry?"

             "as long as they don't bring it here I don't care"

             "doesn't affect me, so let them get on with it"

Denial  - "It can't be that bad, they are just using it as an excuse"

             "Don't bring it to our doorstep, we don't want it"

             "It would never happen here so we're safe"

Nastiness: "They'd better not come here, we don't want them"

                "They aren't refugees, they are scroungers!"

                "We should look after our own before letting them in"

Over the last few weeks I think I've seen all these responses in one form or another and if you take a really good look at what is happening here, then I think you might consider the following:

To apathy and denial I would say, no, it's not happening here, yet. The government we have at the moment not only those in power but the other parties too. They aren't competing to be the ones who run the country, they are competing for the biggest slice of the cake. Whether it is big business or the bankers that really rule the country or whether it is a publicly elected body, it's not about people, its about money and how much they can make. Do you think if we really objected strongly, rebelled against it and tried to change things it couldn't get really bad for us really quickly? Don't get too complacent is all I'm saying. 

I could say a lot of things to nastiness, but hey, here's an idea! To all those spouting those kinds of things, can we do a swap?? Have the refugees here and send you out "where they came from"? Sounds like we'd get the better deal personally!

It is currently my mission to hug a Syrian refugee tightly when I see one. They have had their worlds turned upside down. I can't even imagine what that feels like.

Oh.. this went in a different direction to the one I was planning.. as is often the case. I do try to pull them back onto the right theme but didn't bother this time. 

However, apart from scaring the living crap out of some poor unsuspecting Syrian refugee in the near future, I'm also going to think more about what I can do for people. I hope you do too. 

When you actually think about it, it takes very little to make another human smile. It doesn't take money, it doesn't even take a lot of your time. I'm hereby challenging you to do the following acts of kindness:

• Let someone go ahead of you in a queue 
• Offer to help someone pack their shopping if they are struggling with children as well
• Offer a homeless person half of your sandwich
• Smile more at strangers (not too much, it looks creepy if you do it all the time)
• Pop any small change in a charity box
• Take time to talk to someone elderly or homeless. Just showing you care enough to stop and chat can mean so much

The one I want to do? I want to make sure that the trend started a while ago whereby you buy a "suspended coffee" for someone less fortunate doesn't die. In fact, those places that offer a two for one meal deal should allow the second meal to be 'suspended' for those who need it. This idea cannot be allowed to die off!! 

Peace and love man...