Did you know it was UK Kindness Day on November 13th? Well nor did I. And I wasn't overly enthusiastic when I walked into the Action for Happiness panel debate the other night:. Are We Kind Enough? It all screamed out socks and sandals to me as I got in the lift with two white middle class women wearing the sort of necklaces you buy in spitalfields made from melon seeds. But the room was full of a real mix of people. Not everyone was white, and ages ranged from pensioners to twenty somethings. And you good feel an almost imperceptible buzz coming from the audience of social entrepreneurs and community activists.
There was a panel discussion. Ok I was suspicious that Big Society was funding the event, but their representative didn't look too much like a young cameron. In fact going on stereotypes he looked like a guardian reader. The speakers kept kept mentioning community and society, which seemed quite practical. Despite the the daffy philosopher who talked about utilitarianism (greatest good for the greatest number of people) we all responded to the UK Kindness Movement's representative who quoted Samuel Pepys 'kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not'. And boy do I sometimes struggle with that one. There was even an ex apprentice, James, who now works for Talk Radio, to through a bit of right wing opposition into the mix. But the man who impressed me the most was xxx the artist who started up the riot cleanup campaign on twitter. He seemed totally immersed in the community now, but in such an unselfconscious, and such a passionate way. Don't just think about it or plan it, 'just do it' he kept saying. And then he went on to recount his tale of the kindest man he'd known: a bin man on his street who used to save up tokens from cereal packets in the rubbish, send them off, and then give the toys he got away to the children in the street. We all felt like saying 'aaah'. Especially when we heard he ended up winning the lottery a few years later.
I can't describe every single contributor, although I have put their links below, as each has his/her own special passion. They did though, make me think again about what my society is, and what is good for our society. As xxxx of Action for Happiness said, we're all hard wired for kindness (although we're also hard wired to be competitive and selfish too), kindness is contagious - if someone is good to you, you feel like being good to someone else, and lastly, society really is richer, more productive, if people are nicer to each other. You only have to look at win win negotiation and city companies who spy on interviewees to check if they're just as civil to the security guards as to CEOs.
Ok. I had reservations about the sort of person that spends his/her life getting grants for litter cleanup organisations, and how much good their work actually does. But at the same time they are passionate and sometimes, whatever it is, you really need people to care about something to make it work.
meanwhile, as I passed the red leather sofas on the way out of somerset house, and ruminated on artist xxx act of kindness project, I did hope that tomorrow, on kindness day, I'll try to smile more and let someone in front of me go in the traffic queue...
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