New Years Resolution

25 Random Acts of Kindness. The End.

Oh, you would like more of an explanation than this? Ok.

The inspiration for my New Years reslution this year has really been two fold. First, one of my favorite Christmas music groups is the Trans Siberian Orchestra. One of their songs has a few lines that have always resonated with me. The song is "Old City Bar" and the lyrics are:

If you want to arrange it

This world you can change it

If we could somehow make this

Christmas thing last.

By helping a neighbor

Or even a stranger

And to know who needs help

You need only just ask.

These words affect me because in my opinion they hit the nail right on the head. For December, I've always found people (in general) to be more cheerful and social and kind. However for much of the other 11 months of the year, we tend to be more callous and spiteful and isolated from one another.

The final inspiration for this resolution came after the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy.  On of the ways people were honoring and remembering the victims were by paying it forward.  There were many suggestions for small, but meaningful, random acts of kindness to remind people of the good in our society and not just the bad.

Since my idea orginally stemmed from the Christmas spirit, I decided to follow the 25 days of Christmas tradition and pledge to do 25 acts of kindness throughout 2013. I also determined, since I work in a profession where it is my job to help others, that I should state some parameters so I can't cheat and use "I made a kid feel better today". The main guidelines I've created to follow are it doesn't count if it's part of my job description and it can be small but should involve going (at least slightly) out of my way.

What I'm hoping to gain from my resolution this year is a more positive attitude. Helping someone else always reminds me that my day (or week or month) could be worse. It's also very gratifying to see someone's day brightened. Plus, there is always the possibly that I will inspire them to pay my kindness forward to someone else.  Hopefully in a small way this year, I will be working to change my corner of the world.