World Kindness Day.

 World Kindness Day.

In a world that the cynics might refer to as one of mean-spiritedness and downright selfishness, it might be said that we should be kinder towards each other, less concerned for those who may have it all. It is widely assumed that most of us have got shedloads of money in the bank, a big, nice house with all the materialistic possessions such as a luxurious, spacious kitchen, enormous bathroom, a conservatory and summer house at the back. But domestic comforts mean nothing if we find ourselves financially broke, skint and destitute. Money then tends to pale into insignificance. 

But for those who become obsessed with greed, overwhelmed by complete dissatisfaction, accumulating more thousands and millions by the day, then we begin to take everything for granted. Then we become inveterate hoarders of everything from newspapers, magazines, books, records and general souvenirs or paraphernalia. It is at this point that we might forget about the simple act of giving to our local charities, models of warm hearted benevolence because, perhaps, we don't need these once valuable keepsakes.

So we then think charity begins at home and determinedly refuse to give anything away to those who may need it more than we might imagine. We begin to save for a rainy day that may never come but then discover that our neighbours have noticed that we haven't spent a penny on a new car for years and our holidays consist solely of a canal barge journey along the Norfolk Broads. The paint is peeling on the walls of a now decaying house, the windows have been neglected and are now filthy. They look down on you condescendingly on you because money is everything to them and they never give anything to those who so thoroughly deserve it. 

Yes folks. It's World Kindness Day, a day for doing a favour to your best friend, neighbour or cherished family members. It is time to loosen those parsimonious purse strings and throw lavish dinner parties, giving toys and games to children without a single thought or doubt or just smiling for a change. World Kindness Day could be a day for either changing the habits of a lifetime by splashing out on a four course restaurant in the West End of London for the first time in ages. Or maybe they'd rather stick indoors with a plate of fish and chips and just turn into sourpusses, miserable and isolated folk who just can't be bothered to paint the town red and party. 

World Kindness Day means unashamed generosity to those who may be less fortunate, taking them out to lunch at the local cafe, buying several pints of booze because they just deserve this largesse. But of course the kids thoroughly merit days out at the local seaside during the summer and to those who have suffered long term physical illnesses which may be sadly terminal, then kindness should be considered as a natural response to adversity. 

This may be a day for just knocking on the doors of the elderly and disabled and inquiring about their welfare, offering to do their shopping, taking them out to a country pub or just organising an impressive picnic for the entire family because it just seems the best idea of them all. We then walk up to the tin rattlers in the street, smiling at the recipient and dropping a fiver or tenner with a munificent heart. We then think nothing of doing voluntary work for the community, painting houses in dire need of tender loving care or swimming hundreds of lengths with the only objective of collecting a couple of thousand pounds for children from broken homes or indeed the homeless. 

On Friday, the BBC will hold their yearly Children In Need TV spectacular, a vast charitable endeavour that seems to have been around for decades. Children In Need, quite literally, has done what it says on the tin for years and years, a multi million pound fund raiser that continues to blow us all away. We watch with a good deal of guilt and discomfort at the children with nothing, poverty stricken, hungry and penniless, children with no academic future or children confined to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives. But then the great British public dig deep into their bank balances or wallets and deliver the goods with classic fund raisers such as bingo evenings or general knowledge pub quizzes. 

For quite a while, celebrities have jumped onto the bandwagon with pleas for more money from the public over and over again. Then rickshaws are seen travelling around country lanes, busy roads and motorways across the country. Invariably the ever-cheerful figure of Country File presenter and former gymnast Matt Baker, has ridden through all the weathers. Then the buckets come out again and vast sums of money are gathered. Random acts of kindness do exist in homes across the whole of Britain but are never really recognised as substantial achievements. 

So Ladies and Gentlemen. It's time to pull on a T-shirt or tracksuit top or bottom because you can't beat a good, old fashioned marathon. Running and fitness are the perfect way of expressing a good heart. Marathons give so much money back to organisations which never really get the monetary help that should be theirs as of right. It's World Kindness Day so let's be good to those who may never know such days. You could change somebody's life or lives permanently. It's worth a thought or two. We've always heard about the milk of human kindness so let's have a pint or two.