"How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
~William Shakespeare

The impetus for writing this piece began whilst enjoying my regular Sunday morning ritual of coffee, couch, cat and the weekend papers. I found myself reading an article talking about the art of performing a R.A.O.K., (that’s a Random Act Of Kindness). To RAOK someone is to spontaneously do something generous or kind to a complete stranger. Examples given in the article where things like pay for a stranger’s coffee in a cafe, give someone a bunch of flowers on the street, or anonymously top up a parking meter… You can even purchase special ROAK cards which you give to the recipient, and the card invites them to RAOK someone else… Why? Because it makes you & the receiver feel good.

This is all very NICE but I have to fess up that what drove me to write on this topic was my sense of irritation after reading the article. And why did it irritate me so? What really irked me was the idea that we need to invent ways to be kind. That there are not already ample opportunities to flex our kindness muscles in everyday life! It seems somewhat indulgent to give yourself a big pat on the back for these RAOKs performed in the safe havens of our luxurious, western lives. I am sure it feels quite exciting and fun to shout a stranger a cup of coffee but what about Regular Acts Of Kindness every day? The old fashioned "do a good deed for the day"?

One of my yoga students, someone in their 70’s, recently arrived in class late and flustered. She had stopped to help someone who had fallen over at Highpoint Shopping Centre. Because of her age she struggled to help, but felt obliged, as nobody else offered any assistance!

In the public arena I notice regularly what I call ROARs, (Random Acts Of Rudeness). In our faced paced, big city lives, it is easy to lose our sense of connection with others. Our ME centric, "I am more important" mantras can be used as an excuse to feel OK about hurling abuse at a stranger. We are all guilty of the occasional ROAR and of course none of us are saints! I see the logic in RAOKs as a counter attack to ROARs, and as a vanilla way of promoting charitable acts, but we are capable of delivering the goods in a much more enlightened way. Let's direct our kindness to those that we love and cherish. And let that expand out to our neighbours, the local shop keeper and all the people that lovingly provide our everyday services. Then extend that out to every person we come in contact with... every living being...and so on...

"Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. " ~Author Unknown

Make the random acts regular. Act where it counts. There are so many living beings in real need on our planet.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~Plato