I’ve been thinking lately about what it would take to convince every person in our area to do one kind act every day.
Can you even imagine how amazing that would be? All kinds of people doing all kinds of little acts would change the entire face of the community before a week was up.
I can just envision a world where people get up in the morning and look forward to figuring out how they’re going to help someone that day. It fills me with rainbows and butterflies just to think about it. But I have to admit, I’m coming up with a blank.
I’d like to think that people will start experimenting with their own random acts of kindness just because they’ve read about it in this column and it sounds like so much fun. I’m starting to doubt that though.
I think Melanie Sorenson of Newfolden, Minn., and her mother may have some up with a better idea:
“Hello! I was reading your article in the Fargo paper while I was waiting for my car to be serviced at Corwins.
“I wanted to let you know of my special mother, Marlys Melby, of Fargo, who rewards kids $1 when she sees them do a random act of kindness. This may be holding a door open for someone, picking up garbage, a kind hello or simply just a smile gone her way. She loves seeing the reaction of kids when she pulls out a dollar and tells them ‘thank you’ for whatever good deed she just witnessed.
“I work in the office at a school. A young elementary boy saw me walking up the sidewalk to school and waited to hold the door open for me. I thanked him and pulled out $1. He smiled. Don’t you know he was waiting for me the next day also!
“Little things can make a big difference in one’s life.”
I wish I had a bank account big enough to pay everyone for being kind. I truly think I’d only have to pay people once, because they would quickly realize that the real payoff of kindness is that amazing feeling you get throughout your entire body when you know you’ve slowed down enough to help another member of this human race.
If you want to fund this project (I’m kidding!) or have an idea of how to spread the message of kindness (I’m not kidding!), please let me know!
And children, please don’t camp out on poor Marlys Melby’s front lawn waiting to do an act of kindness for her. I’m not sure her wallet could handle all that love.
Please continue to share your stories of kindness with me at nphillips15@hotmail.com. Or send a letter to Kindness is Contagious c/o Nicole Phillips, The Forum, 101 5th St. N., Box 2020, Fargo, ND, 58107.
Nicole Phillips is a former television anchor for Fox News in Fargo, and currently the Executive Director of Diva Connection Foundation. She is the mother of three kids and the wife of Bison Men’s Head Basketball Coach Saul Phillips. Her columns run every Saturday.
