Random Acts of Kindness

I love the concept of “random acts of kindness” – doing something for someone you may or may not know and doing so for no other reason than to share an act of kindness.  Random acts of kindness or “raks” as they are known, have become popular over the past few years. Even a small gesture of kindness counts as a rak.  This is a win-win situation, as both the person receiving and the person doing the random act of kindness experience enjoyment and satisfaction.

Here in Prince Albert, I know of a group of high school girls who make it their mission to perform at least one random act of kindness each and every day.  What makes this so unique is that these girls come from less than ideal homes, in fact some of the girls are foster children.  These young women have seen much sorrow and suffered  painful childhoods, yet they do not dwell on their past experiences and instead focus on doing good things for other people.  The girls say that their daily ritual of raks has helped them to heal and to work on recovery and that they feel happier and more content with their lives for doing so. 

I have a friend who decided to perform “racks” or random acts of Christmas kindness this year.  She surprised people who had touched her life or people she thought might need an act of kindness to help them through the Christmas season.  She found that she enjoyed doing her racks as much as her recipients enjoyed receiving them.

I was a rack recipient this Christmas.  I received a card with a very touching message and a Tim Horton’s gift card from an anonymous rack-er.  I suspect it is my friend, mentioned above, but she would neither confirm nor deny when I questioned her.  Regardless of who it was, it was a wonderful gesture and made my day in the middle of Christmas madness. 

Last week, my niece Jeridee told me her own story of a rak in her life.  Her story is a wonderful one and I think it is one of the most touching rak stories I have heard to date.  Her two year old daughter loves to watch the local school bus drive by their acreage and to wave at it as it goes by. Every day Jeridee tries to make sure Maelle is by the living room window around bus time so she can wave at the bus.  At some point, the driver took notice of this practice and began to wave back. Last week, the driver took it one step further. She now slows down a little when she gets to Maelle’s window and everyone on the bus waves to her.  How nice is that!  Such a small gesture, yet it makes one little girl (and her mother and great-aunt) very happy.  No doubt, it also puts the bus driver and the students on the bus in a happy mood.  What an awesome bus driver and what a great lesson she is teaching the students on her bus. This just makes me smile. :)How wonderful for Maelle. 

Random acts of kindness can be the simplest actions, yet they have a huge impact.  So, go ahead and make someone’s day (and your own) by rak-ing them.  You will be amazed at how good you feel about yourself and about those around you. Making the world a happier place, one random act of kindess at a time . . .  it's a good thing!

Little Miss Sunshine

It seems that over the past few years, I have attended too many funerals of people who have passed away far too young.  This week-end, we said our farewell to yet another person who had so much life left to live and so much joy to spread.  Debbie was not someone I saw very often, but when we ran into each other, she was always smiling and was always excited about something or other that was happening in her life.  Whether it was stopping in at my office to pick up yet another one of our fund-raising cook-books, or shopping for plants at a greenhouse, it seemed everything was a reason for Debbie to be happy and excited about.  There was something about Debbie that made you smile just thinking about her.  I became friends with her sister-in-law, Stacey, and because of that friendship, I had the opportunity to see Debbie a little more often.

Stacey and Debbie’s cousin, Mary, gave her eulogy and they verified what I had always thought of Debbie. I had assumed the Debbie I knew was the public one and that perhaps she was not that way all the time in private. However, in their loving tribute to her, Stacey and Mary shared happy and poignant stories of Debbie and spoke of her love of family and friends. She loved “sparkly” things and had many items that shone and sparkled in her home, things like indoor Christmas lights all year long, dozens of solar lights in her back yard and bright, colourful items throughout her house. This was a lady who went through life in pink sparkling runners – literally.  They were placed next to her urn, a testament to the energetic bubbly person Debbie had been. 

Debbie’s life and funeral has made me look at myself, perhaps because we were very similar in age and in the number of years we were married.  Because of that, I wonder how difficult it must have been for her those last months and weeks.  I have so much more I want to do, so many more places I want to visit and so much left to say. I’m not ready to go yet.  I suspect Debbie must have felt the same.  Still, she faced death through the months leading to it with her usual smile and enthusiasm for life.  I did not know Debbie as well as many others at her funeral did, yet I feel a tremendous loss at losing her.  I can only imagine how her family must feel. That was Debbie in a nutshell: she cast her magic wand on all who knew her and all who had the good fortune of meeting her and left a lasting impression of a sunshine smile. 

Her funeral card had a picture of her in a field of yellow flowers with her arms outstretched, wearing a straw sunhat.  The caption over the picture simply said “Little Miss Sunshine”.  Indeed she was, in all the things she surrounded herself with and within herself.  You will be missed, Debbie, and never forgotten.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Why is it that the date of the death of Ireland’s patron saint is celebrated worldwide? There are many other saints and many other patron saints, but most are celebrated locally and not all over the world as St. Pat’s date is. There is something intriguing about the day and all the greenery that happens on March 17. 

The real St. Patrick was born in the 4th Century and is thought to have been taken as a slave from Roman Britain to Ireland. He escaped, returned to Britain and became a priest. He later returned to Ireland and is credited with Christianizing the Irish. Folklore says that he used a shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. That was likely where “the wearing of the green” originated. St. Patrick’s Day and the wearing of green has been celebrated as early as the 17th century.   It is indicative of how important St. Patrick’s Day has become over the centuries that for Christians who observe Lent, the Lenten restrictions have occasionally been lifted for the one day (if St. Patrick’s Day falls during the forty days of Lent).  Many believe that this has encouraged the holiday’s tradition of consuming alcohol.

It is estimated that there are over eighty million people all over the world who are of Irish descent.  Many countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States have many towns and neighborhoods which were settled by Irish immigrants and their descendents continue to observe some of the traditions of their ancestors.  The most celebrated and recognizable of these traditions is the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. 

The Irish have contributed a great deal to Canada. Irish-Canadian engineering developed and built the Rideau canal system, Irish immigrants helped build the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway and one-third of Canada’s 22 prime ministers were of Irish ancestry!

Today, we continue to wear green on March 17th and show off our green in other ways: bars offer green beer, the Chicago River is dyed green, and many businesses change the lights on their buildings to green for the day. The Queen presents bowls of shamrock to members of the Irish Guards on St. Patty’s Day.  The shamrock is flown from Ireland each year in time for her to do make the presentations.  Horse racing at Cheltenham Festival is held on or close to St. Patrick’s Day and is attended by large numbers of Irish people.  All over the world, people wear green and celebrate this special Irish tradition.

For those of us living in Saskatchewan, “wearing of the green” has a different meaning every other day of the year and we reserve our green pride for the Rough Riders. However, on March 17 we stand with the Irish in acknowledging their special day.  So, wear your green clothes today and maybe even tip a green beer to the memory of St. Patrick.  If you know someone who is Irish (and chances are you do), wish them a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Loving everything green today . . . it’s a good thing!