Opinion

Kindness Comes Around Again

By JOHN GATHRIGHT

"Psst, you wanna buy a passport?!" Passports are selling like hot cakes in Japan right now and they aren't illegal or found on the black market. These passports won't get you into any countries but they promise to open the gates to fortune and dreams come true.

You have probably seen them or maybe you even own one. The cute "Heaven's passport" comes with stickers that you can stick in a booklet when you do a good deed. It is becoming a hot fad throughout Japan and could become one overseas.

I think that it is a great idea! Personally, if I were the inventor I would have changed the content a little and maybe not have made them so cute and childish, but bravo for the idea.

"What? John, get a grip on reality! People should be doing good deeds out of kindness, not for reward!" My answer to people who would say this is: You are right, but most people don't! We live our lives surrounded by opportunities to do little acts of kindness, but we don't do them. Not only are we guilty of kindness omission but thoughtless ness as well.

As a Boy Scout, I remember having to do a list of kind acts in order to get my service badge. It seemed like a chore to find chances to be of service or to perform a kindness.

Helping an elderly lady across the street, surprising a neighbor by secretly mowing his lawn, picking up garbage off the street, it was a chore to find opportunities to be kind. But, surprisingly, with each new kindness, joy and the desire to do kindness grew. Good deeds became almost second nature.

It was sort of easy to be kind as a kid. Elementary school teachers had charts that offered rewards for kindness. My grandma would always ask, "Did you do a kindness today?" If I had, it was a great joy to tell her. If I hadn't, I would resolve to find a kindness for the next time we met.

On a visit to Canada many years after my grandmother had passed away, I saw a bumper sticker that said "Did you do a kindness today?" I stopped dead in my tracks. Not only was I shocked to see the sticker but I realized that among adults, nobody ever asks that question. I felt ashamed to have to admit I hadn't done a kindness in a long time. In fact, I was out of the habit of looking for chances to do good deeds.

The chance to show kindness and do good deeds doesn't jump up and slap us on the face. Unless we are in the habit of looking for such opportunities, they can seem invisible.

If a passport encourages people to look for chances to do good, I am all for it. You never know, after the bearer finishes her first 100 good deeds and the passport is full, she might keep doing kindness out of good will and charity.

I don't think I will buy a passport myself. I'm going to write notes and post them all over the house: "Did you do something kind today?" Actually, I think I'll even send some to friends. I won't need a reward or stickers. Kindness itself is a reward. Not only do we feel good, but when we least expect it someone else is kind to us. What goes around comes around.

Let's put kindness on the move.

Shukan ST: June 18, 1999

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