I perform random acts of kindness.
Though mine are neither random nor an act. I engage. It’s why must be done to thrive: be love.
Selfless, enabling, and spontaneous acts in a ‘be like Jesus’ mode. Radical to some, anathema to others, who remain stymied by fear. A scourge to a few.
Those folks will never experience the sweet abandon of barriers to help one in need. Doing such requires improv skills, which most people seem to lack. “Go with the flow” is not what most folks are about.
Too ego bound, perhaps others are. I can’t figure it out.
A Good Samaritan in the midst of troubled times… consider it. For Jesus to create a parable and act thus himself, means that spite and fear and dread and unscrupuous hate existed 2000 years back.
While cavemen didn’t write to record, early humans may have marauded, but not likely. Communal spirit fostered survival. Humanity and love. Good deeds in dinosaur days? Ya think?
I wondered, so I researched: the phrase, random acts of kindness was coined in the ’80s by Anne Herbert, an activist associated with the Whole Earth Catalogue.
Anne Herbert and I were responding to our despair at accelerating systemic violence, specifically the domestic Rodney King incident of racial violence and police brutality – and the international drum beat to war in the Persian gulf that was engulfing the nighttime news. We wanted to stop the wars… To create a spell that would shatter the trance . So we took the phrase “random violence and senseless acts of cruelty” and created a “reversal”(to use feminist philosopher Mary Daly’s strategy). It was not too tough to find kindness for violence. Not wimpy kindness but tough Dalai Lama never give up kindness. ” Beauty” for “cruelty ” was the radical innovation.
As part of my research, I found Anne Herbert’s book, Random Kindness & Senseless Acts of Beauty, available on Amazon. I plan to explore the roots of this culturally transformative statement. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0912078898/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0912078898&linkCode=as2&tag=theimprolife-20
In the meantime, I will carry on the practice. One truly doesn’t need a reason to try to be like Jesus, the Golden Ruler.
Let me know how the book is!
also, I really appreciate how you find graphics for your posts. 🙂
Pixabay, Babe. Pixabay.
Thanks for the compliment – it takes some ingenuity, and it sometimes leads the way to good words.