Happy Atheist Forum

This is not my idea, but I saw it and liked it. It's based on the idea of paying it forward through acts of kindness, which can be very simple. Here's a link to the website:

http://actsofkindness.org/

Here is a link to a PDF version of a book with 100 ideas for community groups (and many more ideas are available):

http://actsofkindness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/11_pdf.pdf

Some of these would work for a group, some would just be good to do on a regular basis to encourage a better society.

Quote1 Deliver fresh-baked cookies to city workers.
    2 Collect goods for a food bank.
    3 Bring flowers to work and share them with coworkers.
    4 Garden clubs can make floral arrangements for senior centers, nursing homes, hospitals, police stations, or shut-ins.
    5 Adopt a student who needs a friend, checking in periodically to see how things are going.
    6 Volunteer to be a tutor in a school.
    7 Extend a hand to someone in need. Give your full attention and simply listen.
    8 Merchants can donate a percentage of receipts for the week to a special cause.
    9 Bring coworkers a special treat.
    10 Students can clean classrooms for the custodian.
    11 Buy a stranger a free pizza.
    12 Distribute lollipops to kids.
    13 Sing at a nursing home.
    14 Offer a couple of hours of baby-sitting to parents.
    15 Slip paper hearts that say “It’s Random Acts of Kindness Week! Have a great day!” under the windshield wipers of parked
    cars.
    16 Have a charity day at work, with employees bringing nonperishable food items to donate.
    17 Serve refreshments to customers.
    18 Draw names at school or work, and have people bring a small gift or food treat for their secret pal.
    19 Remember the bereaved with phone calls, cards, plants, and food.
    20 Treat someone to fresh fruit.
    21 Pay a compliment at least once a day.
    22 Call or visit a homebound person.
    23 Hand out balloons to passersby.
    24 Give free sodas to motorists.
    25 Be a good neighbor. Take over a baked treat or stop by to say “Hello.”
    26 Transport someone who can’t drive.
    27 Mow a neighbor’s grass.
    28 Say something nice to everyone you meet today.
    29 Send a treat to a school or day-care center.
    30 Volunteer at an agency that needs help.
    31 Wipe rainwater off shopping carts or hold umbrellas for shoppers on the way to their cars.
    32 Give the gift of your smile.
    33 Send home a note telling parents something their child did well.
    34 Adopt a homeless pet from the humane society.
    35 Organize a scout troop or service club to help people with packages at the mall or grocery.
    36 Host special programs or speakers at libraries or bookstores.
    37 Offer to answer the phone for the school secretary for ten minutes.
    38 Volunteer to read to students in the classroom.
    39 Write notes of appreciation and bring flowers or goodies to teachers or other important people, such as the principal, nurse, custodian, and secretary.
    COMMUNITY IDEAS
    40 Incorporate kindness into the curriculum at area schools, day care centers, or children’s classes in faith organizations.
    41 Give a hug to a friend.
    42 Tell your children why you love them.
    43 Write a note to your mother/father and tell them why they are special.
    44 Pat someone on the back.
    45 Write a thank-you note to a mentor or someone who has influenced your life in a positive way.
    46 Give coffee to people on their way to work in the morning.
    47 Donate time at a senior center.
    48 Give blood.
    49 Visit hospitals with smiles, treats, and friendly conversation for patients.
    50 Stop by a nursing home, and visit a resident with no family nearby.
    51 Plant flowers in your neighbor’s flower box.
    52 Give another driver your parking spot.
    53 Leave a treat or handmade note of thanks for a delivery person or mail carrier.
    54 Give free car washes.
    55 Clean graffiti from neighborhood walls and buildings.
    56 Tell your boss that you think he/she does a good job.
    57 Tell your employees how much you appreciate their work.
    58 Let your staff leave work an hour early.
    59 Have a clean-up party in the park.
    60 Tell a bus or taxi driver how much you appreciate their driving.
    61 Have everyone in your office draw the name of a Random Acts of Kindness buddy out of a hat and do a kind act for their
    buddy that day or week.
    62 Give a pair of tickets to a baseball game or concert to a stranger.
    63 Leave an extra big tip for the waitperson.
    64 Drop off a plant, cookies, or donuts to the police or fire department.
    65 Open the door for another person.
    66 Pay for the meal of the person behind you in the drive-through.
    67 Write a note to the boss of someone who has helped you, praising the employee.
    68 Leave a bouquet of flowers on the desk of a colleague at work with whom you don’t normally get
    along.
    69 Call an estranged family member.
    70 Volunteer to fix up an elderly couple’s home.
    71 Pay for the person behind you in the movie line.
    72 Give flowers to be delivered with meal delivery programs.
    73 Give toys to the children at the shelter or safe house.
    74 Give friends and family kindness coupons they can redeem for kind favors.
    75 Be a friend to a new student or coworker.
    76 Renew an old friendship by sending a letter or small gift to someone you haven’t talked with in a long time.
    77 For one week, act on every single thought of generosity that arises spontaneously in your heart, and notice what happens
    as a consequence.
    78 Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone loading a car.
    79 Invite someone new over for dinner.
    80 Buy a roll of brightly colored stickers and give them to children you meet during the day.
    81 Write a card of thanks and leave it with your tip. Be sure to be specific in your thanks.
    82 Let the person behind you in the grocery store go ahead of you in line.
    83 When drivers try to merge into your lane, let them in with a wave and a smile.
    84 Buy cold drinks for the people next to you at a ball game.
    85 Distribute kindness bookmarks that you have made.
    86 Create a craft project or build a bird house with a child.
    87 Give a bag of groceries to a homeless person.
    88 Laugh out loud often and share your smile generously.
    89 Plant a tree in your neighborhood.
    90 Make a list of things to do to bring more kindness into the world, and have a friend make a list. Exchange lists and do one
    item per day for a month.
    91 Use an instant camera to take people’s photographs at a party or community event, and give the picture to them.
    92 As you go about your day, pick up trash.
    93 Send a letter to some former teachers, letting them know the difference they made in your life.
    94 Send a gift anonymously to a friend.
    95 Organize a clothing drive for a shelter.
    96 Buy books for a day care or school.
    97 Slip a $20 bill to a person who you know is having financial difficulty.
    98 Take an acquaintance to dinner.
    99 Offer to take a friend’s child to ball practice.
    100 Waive late fees for the week.

I was wondering if, perhaps, it would be possible to organize a "day of service" as a secular response to the national day of prayer? Yet, it doesn't have to be just a day. This can be an active movement, or not. I'm just brainstorming a few ideas. And the day of service doesn't have to be the same as the "pay it forward" idea, but they seem to be compatible. Any thoughts?

Very nice, but 12 is going to get you arrested !!  

It actually depresses and saddens me how much of a lunatic, nutcase or peadophile people would think you are if you did half of those.

It's a shame how .. suspicious, we have become of kindness. When they are such nice ideas.  

Quote from: "SnowLeopard86"It actually depresses and saddens me how much of a lunatic, nutcase or peadophile people would think you are if you did half of those.

It's a shame how .. suspicious, we have become of kindness. When they are such nice ideas.  

Word. ("Word!" is the new "Amen!".)

Actually, some of it is quite comical if you take it to its logical, literal end... like #86: making a birdhouse with a child.

Any child? What if the kid doesn't want to do it? Can't you just picture a kid standing there, crying, "I don't want to make a birdhouse!" And the adult, "I'm trying to be generous and nice, goddamnit, now hand me that wood glue!"

Or maybe I just haven't had enough coffee yet.  

QuoteAny child? What if the kid doesn't want to do it? Can't you just picture a kid standing there, crying, "I don't want to make a birdhouse!" And the adult, "I'm trying to be generous and nice, goddamnit, now hand me that wood glue!"

Well, one should take a "common sense" approach to this.   It depends on the person's objective for doing a nice deed. If it's simply for self-gratification, then it seems the point of the movement has been lost.

Quote from: "knight"

QuoteAny child? What if the kid doesn't want to do it? Can't you just picture a kid standing there, crying, "I don't want to make a birdhouse!" And the adult, "I'm trying to be generous and nice, goddamnit, now hand me that wood glue!"

Well, one should take a "common sense" approach to this.   It depends on the person's objective for doing a nice deed. If it's simply for self-gratification, then it seems the point of the movement has been lost.

Well, technically, all good deeds are a form of self-gratification.  Whether you consider your act of kindness an ego-stroke or the product of noble goals, you still get the self-affirmation it provides.  For me, it doesn't sully the deed; it just puts it into perspective.  It helped me to get over my what-should-I-be-doing-to-save-the-world complex and find the value in the more subtle contributions (of which I find more enjoyable).  Goodbye Catholic guilt of my younger days.

Sidenote: kindness isn't dead.  I always encounter the nicest people at Ikea.  Three times I've gone by myself to pick up bookshelves, and on every occasion, a random stranger has offered to help me load the heavy boxes into my trunk.

From my favorite Ben Folds song:

Alice the world
is full of ugly things
that you can't change
pretend it's not that way
that's my idea of faith
you can blow it off
and say there's good
in nearly everyone
just give them all a chance
give them all a chance

Edited for spelling error, after curio's quoted me, of course.

Quote from: "jrosebud"Well, technically, all good deeds are a form of self-gratification. Whether you consider your act of kindness an ego-stroke or the product of noble goals, you still get the self-afirmation it provides.

Basically. Altruism doesn't exist.

(Begin debate. Har.)

Quote from: "SnowLeopard86"It actually depresses and saddens me how much of a lunatic, nutcase or peadophile people would think you are if you did half of those.

It's a shame how .. suspicious, we have become of kindness. When they are such nice ideas.  

Well in today's society, everything comes with a price. The minute you do something for free or just out of the kindness of your heart, people are like, "Yeah, but what do you want for this?" *sigh* Like I did a free carwash at my old church (waaayyy back in the day) and 90% of the people asked us about a thousand times if it was really free. Or like if you went around trying to give people free hugs or something, they'd probably sue you or something. Sad world.

Quote from: "Nulono"Word. ("Word!" is the new "Amen!".)

Is it? Good to know...

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Basically. Altruism doesn't exist.

(Begin debate. Har.)

Haha don't even get me started...

Quote from: "susangail"Or like if you went around trying to give people free hugs or something, they'd probably sue you or something. Sad world.

So unlikely and fantastic that it's now a Halloween costume. Took this picture in 2006 on the streets of Athens.

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages42.fotki.com%2Fv1374%2Fphotos%2F8%2F892548%2F6883501%2FDSC_0324-vi.jpg&hash=0263b05a19dd15b9753ba4d66f4b4ce6361f54b1)

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Actually, some of it is quite comical if you take it to its logical, literal end... like #86: making a birdhouse with a child.

Do you have to use the whole child?  

Quote from: "Hitsumei"

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Actually, some of it is quite comical if you take it to its logical, literal end... like #86: making a birdhouse with a child.

Do you have to use the whole child?  :D

JoeActor

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"

Quote from: "susangail"Or like if you went around trying to give people free hugs or something, they'd probably sue you or something. Sad world.

So unlikely and fantastic that it's now a Halloween costume. Took this picture in 2006 on the streets of Athens.

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages42.fotki.com%2Fv1374%2Fphotos%2F8%2F892548%2F6883501%2FDSC_0324-vi.jpg&hash=0263b05a19dd15b9753ba4d66f4b4ce6361f54b1)

ha nice.

Quote from: "Hitsumei"

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Actually, some of it is quite comical if you take it to its logical, literal end... like #86: making a birdhouse with a child.

Do you have to use the whole child?  :hmm: ................................................

took me like a whole two minutes to get what you meant...

This thread is funny.

It made me laugh.

Sad I didn't read and respond to this earlier, but looks like most of my thoughts were put out there.  There are quite a few things on the list that would put me off, like someone grabbing my shopping cart to wipe it down or following me around the parking lot with an umbrella.  Or a stranger giving me a pizza...in the trash that would go.  I like the ones with old people though, we usually have a few in our neighborhood that could use some help, but I don't know many that would be comfortable with welcoming a stranger.

I'd like it if people could pay it forward simply by not being total pricks, like the jerk-off that was behind me blowing the horn behind me (and yelling "go bitch")today because I wouldn't dart out into traffic when he thought I should go.  Gotta love driving in Dallas.  Hope he liked how I put my car in park.

Oh wait, we were talking about being nice....uh oh, quite the learning curve.  

Quote from: "joeactor"As for altuism, I'm on the pro side.  It's a tough issue to debate, IMHO.

Most times I try to be a realist, but my optomist peeks out from time-to-time  ;)

I don't do a good deed to make myself feel good. Feeling good is just a nice consequence of doing a good deed.

Quote from: "karadan"I don't do a good deed to make myself feel good. Feeling good is just a nice consequence of doing a good deed.

This is how I feel as well.  I do a lot of little things... letting someone out onto the street from the school parking lot in the heavy traffic during morning commute.  Letting someone with only a few items go ahead of me at the supermarket.  I don't do these things because they make me feel good... I do them because it makes sense.  Keeping the traffic flow going.  It makes more sense to let someone go ahead of me if I'm going to take longer to put my groceries on the counter than it would take to ring them up.

After these two types of gestures, I don't necessarily feel good... I don't really feel anything.  It's just the way things should be.  It doesn't make me feel good personally to put food in the cat's bowl... it's just something I do every day.

It's the onery things I do that make me feel good... inconveniencing a jerk, for example.  Like the aforementioned traffic issue.  It's a cosmic righting of a wrong, so to speak.