Day 1: Welcome!

“You must be the change if you wish to see it in the world.”
— Ghandi

You may think performing one good deed a day is easy. Not so much for me. I’m pretty good at being nice to family and friends, but strangers? They terrify me. The one time I stopped to help a blind lady across the street, I was so focused on the path ahead of me that I walked the woman straight into a trash can.

So going into this, I know it won’t be easy. Let’s just say I ain’t Oprah. My “Big Give” is usually to myself — but I’m trying to change that, one small gesture at a time. I’m hoping others will join me on this endeavour and let me know any random acts of kindness you’ve tried or have been offered to you.

Day 1

I lucked out today. I needed to take the bus and subway downtown. LOTS of opportunities for good deeds on public transit, people. This required a real attitude-shift for me, however, as I normally face the prospect of commuting by making a concerted effort to avoid eye contact – or any contact – with anyone.

Doing a good deed would involve looking directly at people and paying attention in case someone needed any help. Yikes! I think I freaked a few people out today when they caught me looking at them.

“Relax,” I wanted to tell them, “I’m not about to pick your pocket, I’m just new at this!”

This trip allowed me to do two nice things, however. A seat came available right beside me and I awkwardly motioned for a grey-haired lady to sit down. It was a bit of a challenge to get her attention since she was also a pro in the art of avoiding eye contact, but eventually the message was conveyed and she thanked me.

This “good deed” didn’t feel like such a big deal until about 10 stops later when my arm started to cramp from hanging on to the overhead bar. Told you this wasn’t going to be easy for me!