With the onset of spring, the good deeds of the people of Christchurch and beyond will be echoed in the seventh annual Random Acts of Kindness Day. New Zealand is the only country to accord it the status of a national day, in which people are encouraged to carry out a random act of kindness (RAK) aimed at making the world a better place.
Started by Aucklander Megan Singleton and three friends, the concept has permeated community and corporate worlds alike.
"I believe kindness is at the core of humanity," Singleton says. "Ultimately, we all want to count for something and leave something behind that isn't just about a huge career."
Since the first day, Singleton has noticed an increased willingness by corporates to embrace the philosophy. "A few years ago, they would pay lip-service to it but now they're doing it," Singleton says.
Last year, she took her neighbours, whom she'd never met, a bottle of wine. Now they wave at each other.
"The reward is in bringing out the best in people." Singleton has learned that kindness is contagious.
Otago University psychologist Tamlin Conner agrees. "We have an extensive network of brain circuits that enable us to mirror the behaviour of others so kindness can propagate through a community if conditions are right."
Conner says the Christchurch events show how communities are galvanised into collective kindness by extreme events. That idea was also explored by United States author Rebecca Solnit who said: "Disaster, along with moments of social upheaval, is when the shackles of conventional belief and role fall away and the possibilities open up."
Meg Rodel can't recall how she stumbled on RAK Day but she knew she loved the concept so much she wanted to turn downtown Napier into one big friendly, giving, happy place.
Four years ago, Napier Inner City marketing manager Rodel persuaded a few businesses to spend September 1 spreading some good cheer with a few random kind acts.
It suddenly snowballed. The mayor shouted coffee at cafes around town, councillors offered free shoeshines, morning tea was delivered to staff at the blood centre and to roadworkers. Goody bags were given to the volunteers working in the inner city, flowers and apples were given away at random, optometrists in the street sprayed and cleaned people's glasses and entertainment was organised for playcentres and children in hospital.
Parking wardens even randomly fed expired meters.
"I feel quite passionate about it," says Rodel. "It's not hard to find something to do and that's the wonderful thing. We all like to be appreciated, don't we?" And while she admits there's a challenge in carrying out an act of kindness for a stranger, her advice is to keep practising.
"It's hard to give and to receive, we're not used to doing that with strangers - but the more you do it, the easier it gets. In the current economic climate, it is great to be reminded that an act of kindness doesn't have to cost money."
Science suggests Rodel's instinct is right. There is a tangible human gain to acts of kindness. Conner researches happiness and well-being, measuring how people think, feel and behave in their daily lives. She says psychological evidence shows that kindness, even as a random act, is one of the top "happiness-boosting" activities in human beings.
At Mt Wellington's Bailey Rd School there's something in the air that has seen acts of kindness sprout, multiply and flourish like spring bulbs.
The decile-3 primary and intermediate school has been on the receiving end of several generous deeds that has principal Derek Linington waxing lyrical about a new sense of community, improved morale and tangible lessons for his pupils about how to treat others.
Three years ago, a church offered to carry out a project to improve the school. So church members painted the outside of the swimming pool, laid some concrete and put up some murals in the junior school.
"It was fantastic stuff, all done in a day," says Linington. Then last year, another group helped develop the school's environmental trail and, this year, they're tackling the refurbishment of a building used by pupils for reading recovery.
Another project that has done wonders for kids, staff and community is the school fair.
A church group did all the organising. "They swarmed in here one Saturday with a bouncy castle, games, barbecue, pamper room for the teachers," Linington says. "It was a really feelgood day."
Next Saturday, they're having another one. "The biggest benefit for us has been seeing the wider community getting involved in their local school and being able to show the students what our values really mean."
With results like that it's hard to argue there is anything wrong with the concept.
