Spread the Love: #26Acts

If you haven’t heard yet, NBC’s Ann Curry – like many of us – was moved to do something after the shooting at Sandy Hook. She “asked people to imagine what would happen if all of us committed to 20 acts of kindness to honor each child lost in Newtown.”

She spread the word through Twitter with the hashtag #20Acts in honor of the 20 children lost on Dec. 14. That number has since grown to 26 to honor the teachers and administrators, as well – #26Acts.

The comments on the story and tweets @AnnCurry are pouring in with people sharing their random acts of kindness, given or received. They range from leaving nice notes to helping the homeless to donations being made.

I don’t know if this was inspired by #26Acts or not, but recently at the Starbucks drive-thru window, Ken the barista told me that the previous customer already paid for my coffee. That small act is enough to put a smile on my face, even on a day when driving past a bus full of children brought me to tears.

I was buying gift cards while I was at Starbucks so I added an extra one and handed it back to Ken to take care of the next few orders. Hopefully it gave someone else a needed smile as well.

In Madison, there was a report of Santa Claus making an appearance early Thursday and buying coffee for people there.

Can we stop bad things from happening? Can we erase the pain we and so many others are feeling in our hearts? No...but we can spread love and kindness throughout the worlds we live in every day.

Whether buying someone a coffee or simply stopping to hold a door for someone and offering a smile, you never know whose day you may brighten. And just imagine how much more love there might be in the world if your act of kindness inspires someone else to pay it forward, too.

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