Why do we call them Random Acts of Kindness?
 
I think by calling them random we are doing the very act a disservice.  These Acts are not random. They occur because, at that moment, the person who performs the act has made a conscious decision to help another human being. 

Let’s take, for example, you sitting in your car and you see an elderly person struggling with putting groceries in their car.  You have a cognitive choice of ignoring that person and driving away; or you can get out of your vehicle, walk over, and say, “Let me help you with that.” At that moment you have affected not only your outlook but also the person you are helping, and there is no telling the ripple affect you may cause of all those watching.

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There is nothing random about this.  It isn’t like you were walking across a parking lot and tripped over an Act of Kindness. You recognize in that moment, whether it took a nanosecond or minutes, that a person had a need. You realized what was right and what was wrong, and as another human being you reacted out of love and compassion.  You have called upon all of your understanding of what being a good person is.  You have called upon all your experiences; what you have been taught and learned, all that you have seen and heard, and how people have treated you in your past. How could this be random? 

In that Act, many of which are simple, you have shown all that is good in us and you have lived for that moment in grace and light!  You have become the best of who we are.  This is not random: this is love, this is compassion, and this is everything that makes us good.  What a gift of profound joy. 

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Let’s rethink performing Random Acts of Kindness.  Go out and perform Acts of Kindness. Make them the rule, not the exception. Live in that moment of beauty, love, light, and grace.

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Copyright © 2020 by Charlie Stayton. About the author: Charlie is a former Firefighter/Medic who is currently enrolled in a Master's of Theology class. He has stories in HCS Publishing anthologies and is a writer and Developer for Parlor Games. He lives with his wife Anastasia in Virginia.