It’s simple to understand the benefits of random acts of kindness. Imagine yourself in the situation that we have all experienced: We feel depressed, worthless or otherwise unhappy. Throughout this time, we long for someone to come along and lift us up again. Well, doing random acts of kindness can accomplish this for others. Afterwards, you’ll walk away with the satisfaction of knowing someone went home in a better mood thanks to you.
During the year that Southwest first opened, senior Adrienne Taylor and former student Mackie Louis created the S.M.I.L.E club, which had the purpose of uplifting everyone’s moods as much as possible. A noble cause, they generously sacrifice their time to try to make people feel better, even if those people are completely anonymous.
“We started S.M.I.L.E with the intent to make the school a happier place,” Taylor said. “A group like S.M.I.L.E can promote happiness in the entire community. It benefits everyone, just because it is a better environment in general.”
Alternatively, senior Manuel Salazar thinks that acts of kindness are only worthwhile if a specific opportunity conveniently arrives in his vicinity.
“If the opportunity of acting kind is elsewhere, I won’t do it,” Salazar said. “I’m just doing it [holding doors open for people] because it’s the right thing to do, if the opportunity arises.”
Although this is seemingly selfless on its surface, there is certainly more that can be done to help the community. In its core, we must consider how the receiver of the acts of kindness will think of our kindness. Given enough effort, perhaps that person will return the favor to the initial appeal.
The goal of being a human is essentially to improve the lives of other humans, and create a legacy for his or her family and name. We can all start with that duty here in the school.
“I feel it is someone’s humanitarian duty to do acts of kindness,” Taylor said. “I think every person should feel we are all in this together and that there are little actions that we can all do that take little time and effort.”
The possibilities to help others are endless. Community service based organizations, such as Kay club, S.M.I.L.E club or Environmental club, are perfect for helping other people. If you are a Facebook user, an anonymous user known as “Bvsw Compliments” provides another route to making other people feel better. The idea behind this is that you send this person an anonymous compliment about another individual, and Bvsw Compliments posts the compliment on her wall for the world to see. Alternatively, one can use the BVSW Sweetheart Twitter page, which essentially does the same task. Either way, we can all make a difference in someone’s happiness at Southwest. It’s just a matter of taking the initiative.
- Message BVSW Compliments on Facebook
- Message BVSW Sweetheart on Twitter
- Be tolerant and patient of others in general
- Turn items into the lost and found
- Greet acquaintances in the hallways, not just friends
- Distribute kind notes, inserted into random lockers
- Avoid littering, and pick up litter when you see it
- Hold the door open for a large number of people
- Converse with acquaintances even if you feel uncomfortable around them
- Give gifts, like cookies, to people who you know are having a hard time
