Small Acts of Kindness, & Protest

Antidotes to today's large acts of cruelty

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

“I want you to know how much you mean to me,” she said.

Imagine hearing that from someone you’ve admired for years. It can keep you upbeat for the next 24 hours. Given today’s slash-&-burn goings on, anything that can keep you upbeat through an entire news cycle is welcome. Which is why such a notion forms the basis of this week’s essay.

My long-admired friend is, like me, deeply involved in liberal/progressive politics. For us, as for others who would have preferred another outcome in the last U.S. elections, waking up every morning to another harsh headline can make for definitely downbeat days.

But what if, as an antidote to the anger and cruelty coming from the top, we just stuck to kindness and mercy at the bottom? Little acts of goodness? (They don’t call me Pollyanna for nothing.)

By now there are plenty of studies proving random acts of kindness to be good for stress-reduction, mood-lifting and the general health of the doer. Today might be a good time to add political angst-relief. Dropping a meal ticket into a homeless woman’s cup may do little to solve the problems of homelessness or the unfortunate woman herself. But in the face of obscenely cruel executive orders that leave starving children without food or disaster victims without relief, what else can we do? Just one tiny thing, for our own stress-reduction.

Similarly, one tiny thing done by many stressed-out citizens can become a force for good. In his recent post about “Ten Reasons for Modest Optimism” Robert Reich lists a number small acts that are combining to create effective outcomes. We can all refrain from discretionary spending on February 28, boycott X and move to Bluesky. What I don’t spend on boycott day matters not a smidgen — until it combines with what a few million others don’t spend, and suddenly there’s a message.

Indivisible started out with just a ragtag few scattered groups, some with an opening membership of one or two. Today it’s a force.

Joining protesters in front of the Tesla showroom recently

For the official (in San Francisco at least) No Kings On President’s Day rally in front of the Tesla showroom I created a small sign — all my sign-making equipment having suddenly been used up. It brought no sanity to Washington, but got a laugh or a nod from others bearing signs that read Facism is So Yesterday or You Can’t Spell (F)ELON without ELON. One sign, one voice added to thousands of other signs and voices all across the country and maybe we’ll be heard.

Ah, the magical power of multiplication. I still believe it’s more powerful than the sum total of greed, meanness and retribution being dumped from above. One sign, one protesting voice, one meal ticket dropped into a hat. One pushy driver waved in with a smile. One comment, or email, or even a hand-written postcard! telling someone how much s/he means to you.

It’s a small start.