Acts of Kindess

            For the random act of kindness I went with my mom to donate some shoes and clothing, as well as other items like bags to a homeless woman named Katherine who lives in Whittier. My mom has helped this woman before and talks to her about how she became homeless due to a personal family situation, and we see her around the area quite often for the past five plus years, if not longer. I have never gone with my mom when she goes to bring her stuff so for this activity, what we did was have me gather items from around our house and purchase the things we gave to her. Whittier recently has been having an influx of homeless as neighboring cities “clean up” their cities by kicking the homeless out instead of giving them mental health services and job opportunities. The park near my house has experienced homeless camps and as a result there have been fires started which burned down a tree, drugs which almost killed a dog who ate some by mistake, a few deaths to people over-dosing, and have made families stop going to the park and library as some of the homeless are mentally ill and act aggressively. As well, due to the human waste individuals got sick with an air-born lung infection. This woman however was from Whittier and has always stayed in Whittier but simply fell on hard times and has never been able to fully get back on her feet. She doesn’t drink or do any drugs she simply can’t afford a home and is elderly at this point so cannot work. 

            My act of kindness did not require much of me, it only required around an hour of time to gather items from my house and stores and a little bit of money to purchase them from the stores. This did not require much sacrifice except for a small amount of time from my day and the money I spent on the items. From doing this act of kindness what was gained was the feeling it provides. In doing the act of kindness, it makes you feel good in that you know you are helping someone who does not have much and needs the help. It is a difficult feeling to describe but in a way it makes you feel almost, for lack of a better word, proud knowing someone has been helped. 

            In the lecture in class it was stated that helping others could lead them to feel that they are being the best versions of themselves, feel satisfied with life, and feel as though it provides meaning for them (Finley, 2020, slide 12).  For me personally, I do not think my life meaning comes from helping others, but helping others does nonetheless make me feel good and I can see why for some that gives their lives meaning. As well, I do think helping others does provide some feelings of satisfaction because it makes feel good and on that same note be a better version of yourself however I think these feelings can be gained in many ways for everyone and there is not one way to be the best version of yourself. 

            In regards to getting others to volunteer and do act’s of kindness, I think to motivate others to do good deeds it would require showing them that money and material items do not buy happiness. If can show people that they can be happy and truly enjoy who they are without posting pictures with the newest version of a phone or the newest clothes but be happy by socializing and helping others then they will be more likely to help and do acts of kindness. As well, if could go back to a time before people had to work multiple jobs and had so many responsibilities and felt pressure to always do more then I think people would be willing to do more acts of kindness in their daily life. 

References 

Finley, K. (2020). Caring and Doing for others [PowerPoint presentation]. Retrieved from Moodle.