Kindness is everywhere if you care to look for it
Oct 18, 2017, 10:35 AM
(AP Photo/David Duprey, File)
(AP Photo/David Duprey, File)
Acts of kindness, big or small, are everywhere. It just takes a little to practice to spot them.
I’ll admit that I struggled at first to fulfill my promise to provide a Daily Dose of Kindness every morning on KIRO Radio. I’d scour various websites and search different combinations of words to come up with a “good news story.”
It probably didn’t help that I was picky about the stories I’d re-tell. What I run into a lot are stories of common decency, but those aren’t necessarily acts of kindness.
Luckily I’ve become quite good at finding kindness. It’s been an exercise that has not only enriched me as a broadcaster but has also helped me on a personal level. The anxiety I feel regularly about the awful news events I cover or the harsh rhetoric I hear about race and gender are now easily compartmentalized. I can see goodness, too.
My Daily Dose of Kindness stories might often take place in other parts of America or even the world but goodness – or kindness – doesn’t just happen elsewhere. We have generous and giving communities in the Pacific Northwest, too.
An Everett dentist was recently featured in The Daily Herald. Last Friday, the Herald reports, All Smiles Northwest on Colby Avenue decorated its office with balloons and American flags to welcome veterans in for free services.
The office blocked out an entire day of business to do this. They hope more people realize how many veterans are left without access to dental or medical care.
You can read the full story here.
I encourage you to reach out to me if you’d like to share an act of kindness in your community. I also welcome tooting one’s own horn. Don’t be shy when it comes to kindness – we all need it more than we may realize.
You can hear Colleen O’Brien’s “Daily Dose of Kindness” segment every morning at 7:30 a.m. on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
