Laptop Television Mom

Start your own ripple of kindness and watch it grow.

This holiday season, Yahoo! kicked off a program called “How Good Grows” where the company challenged people everywhere to perform a small act of kindness in hopes of inspiring others to do the same. Think of it as starting a “ripple of kindness” during the holidays to see how far the kindness could spread.

Each member of the Yahoo! Mother Board was given $100 to spend, basically seed money to start our own ripple. I was so excited to participate in this program, and had no idea how hard it would be. I started out wanting to help others, but instead, I surprised myself. Here’s what I learned:

1. I can be shy. Those of you who know me can stop laughing now. In real life, I am loud. But when it came to surprising  a random person by buying a cup of coffee or paying for groceries, I just couldn’t do it. After much reflection, I think it’s because I didn’t grow up with money, and I was simply afraid to offend people by implying they couldn’t afford food.

2. I can be indecisive. Again, another “Jekyll and Hyde” comment for those who know me. Once I realized I can’t surprise people with acts of kindness, I decided to pick a charity to support. Well, I couldn’t pick one over the other, all are deserving and worthy. I think this is because for my day-job at a PR firm, my job is to make decisions all day long. If I were making a decision for my work, I could weigh the pros and cons, and determine the best ROI. But this decision was purely from the heart, which made it much more difficult.

3. I can be helpful. Once this program kicked off, even if I was not sharing my $100, I found myself remembering to be more thoughtful, kind and considerate to others. Just last week, I was flying from San Jose to Austin, and was seated next to a young brother and sister. I’m guessing they were in high school, and it was their first plane ride ever. I realized they were nervous, so I took off my headphones and talked them through the take-off, turbulence and landing. Then, at the Houston airport, I helped them find their next gate. It felt great, and that act of kindness didn’t cost a dime.

4. Sharing feels great. This is the best part of the program. I decided to share my $100 with a woman who is a recent breast cancer survivor.  Exactly one week after her last chemo treatment, just a few weeks ago, her husband was diagnosed with Stage Four colon cancer.  They are both in their late 30s. They have four small children. They live in snowy and cold Iowa, so I decided to donate my $100 to pay for a service to shovel their driveway during the holidays, so they can focus on enjoying Christmas with their family. I happily shared the news with her, and she thanked me with tears in her eyes.

I was so moved by this experience that I decided to match the Yahoo! money with my own to double the amount of snow removal-service this family can have. Winters are long in Iowa… and so are chemo treatments.

If you’d also like to help this couple, email me at laptoptelevision (at) yahoo (dot) com for more information.

– LTV Mom

This post was inspired by participation with the Yahoo! Mother Board, where 80 amazing women share thoughts on a single topic each month. While Yahoo! is my client, these thoughts are mine and I did not receive compensation for writing this post. I received $100 as part of the “How Good Grows” program.