In a world where politics and violence dominate the headlines, sometimes it can be worth remembering the capacity of love and generosity that human beings have can renew your faith in humanity.

In 2013, war veteran Harold Percival passed away in a nursing home at the age of 99. Mr. Percival never married, had no children or any relatives able to attend the funeral. A local newspaper put out an appeal for people to honor the veteran who had served his country in the second world war. More than 200 people came to the funeral of a man they never knew. Sometimes it’s just as easy as showing up.

A hairdresser in his hometown has been helping homeless people regain their sense of identity by giving them free haircuts. These people are someone’s child or sibling and they need some help. When the reporter asked why he did this, he replied, “Our job is not to judge them, but to help them.”

A middle school has started a kindness class that the kids can belong to. In this class each week, they have assignments to help others and show them acts of kindness. It can be at home, with a neighbor, a relative, or a stranger. Sometimes they write notes to others lifting them up, or do a good deed for someone, like shoveling a sidewalk for a neighbor or taking their trash can back to the house after trash pick-up. Every week there are assignments for the kids to do to show kindness to one another. What a wonderful way to spread kindness to others!

A man stood outside a grocery store telling people he was hungry and asking them if they had anything in their cart that he could eat. Most of the people ignored him or shook their heads no. But one kind woman stopped and told him he could take anything he wanted out of her cart. The man smiled at her and told her that he was conducting an experiment about kindness and that he really didn’t need the food. He then handed her $1,000 for her act of kindness. Kindness always pays off in different ways!