First of all, I think that the overarching idea that we are trying to spread is good and if everyone did it, we would live in a perfect society. With that being said, I have had some reservations about the whole Seven Days of Giving:
1) Situations dictate how we come across to the people we are trying to help.
We are trying to inspire random acts of kindness through leading by example. Our acts however, are not random - they are planned out and I think that that takes away from it. So much of doing a random act of kindness is situational and we can't go out making situations where people need help just as we happen to be walking by (unless someone wants to go out and mess with some cars tonight and then we can spring to the rescue tomorrow morning - but I don't think that's what we are here for). For this reason, like another Giver mentioned today, we might come across as a little creepy or overzealous trying to give help when no help is needed. We are trained/indoctrinated growing up not to accept things from strangers and this is basically the belief we are trying to dispel - not an easy mountain to climb. For instance today, we were making balloons and giving stickers and candy to little kids - think about the reaction a mother would have if her 7 year old child returned home from the park and said, "A stranger gave me some candy and was being really nice to me." I think we might have a problem with that.
I think that if we individually keep our eyes open and look for people in need throughout our day and not necessarily have a "plan of attack" to meet somewhere to do it, we would see more examples of people truly in need of our help.
2) What is our group?
I think that making people's lives better is the main goal of this group but are we spending our time effectively? I feel like we have established our own charity but don't have a vision of what we want to accomplish and don't have the metrics to measure our effectiveness. It bugs me that we don't know if we are even making a difference. Habitat for Humanity builds houses for people that are truly in need of a house and we are giving candy to children. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy putting smiles on people's faces but I would have rather seen the satisfaction on a family's face moving into a new house.
Anyway, I think everybody involved has good intentions but I think we need to reevaluate how we are reaching the people we are trying to reach. One thought I had was to go on with our everyday lives but to go out of our way to be nice to people and help out in any situation that we could. Then at the end of the day, use this forum to share stories about how we were able to help people during that day.
I'm sorry if that was kind of scatterbrained, but those are my thoughts on our project.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I definitely like what was said in this post and the post just before it. I agree with some of what was said.
- People who are not comfortable with doing certain acts of kindness shouldn't do them. The giver who wrote that brought up a great point. The giver said that it might make things worse by coming across as without genuine kindness therefore making people more cynical. I totally agree that everyone should give however they feel comfortable.
- I also agree with this post that these acts of kindness are not random and that might be a bad choice of wording. It was called the 7 Days of Giving because it focuses on well, giving. The giving may not be random, but it falls out of what people typically think of when they consider charitable acts.
That said, I wanted to respond to the question "what is our group?". I think the "vision" of the group is to make people feel better or be happier. As much as we would like to, I think it would be really difficult to measure our success. I don't know if we could ask people if they're happier or if they feel better, but I think that's difficult in any case.
As for the Habitat comparison, one of the main reasons this giving is awesome is because it isn't the formal giving that Habitat represents. I think all too often people feel like its an obligation to give and also, they forget that giving can happen with anyone at anytime. If what we are doing is like Habitat (it very well could be), then what should our new approach be to remind people of the opportunities to be kind? I would like to say we continue with our normal lives and give. Yep, that has always been my goal for after this is over. But, how often do the opportunities to give in our normal lives really show themselves? I don't think its as often as we would hope. I leave it with a couple of questions.
1) Other than giving in our normal lives when we can, how can we make people more giving in general, not just with their money or one day in a month?
2) What are some other ways to give to people who aren't the typical person in need who is somehow connected to an Non-profit?
These are great posts. I'm really excited everyone is sharing their thoughts and opinions. Thank you.
There is value is stepping outside of your comfort zones in measured and thoughtful ways. You must do this to grow-- and its worth growing into more kindness.
Perhaps you will never be able to measure the 'value' of what you're doing. But then again, who are you to measure the value of anything at all? How are the prices of things determined, are they fair, and why do people pay such radically different prices for the same thing?
My point is that society is bad at valuing the things it theoretically can quantify because all our quantification systems are deeply flawed anyways. It may make sense to get back to a more personal notion of value... Did you feel good at the end of the day? Were you proud of yourself? Would your grandchildren be proud to be related to you for what you've done?
Post a Comment