If you have been following the 26 Tuesdays series on MIP, you may feel, as I do, that it sure took a long time to honor the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. The sad thing to realize is that many more have lost their lives in service to their country, through disease, and through other acts of violence while we were working on our own acts of kindness in this series.

Each and every day there are many, many people who deserve to be honored and remembered by each of us doing an act of kindness for them. That saying, “Kill them with kindness,” is ringing in my ears today and perhaps that was what was behind Ann Curry’s campaign for 26 Acts of Kindness. If we truly want to turn our world around, each of us needs to be intentional about getting out of our self-absorbed “cocoons” and doing something kind for someone else. Do some resort to “acts of meanness” because the world has not taken enough notice of their suffering? Of course. That is the cost of us being self-absorbed about our own pain. But, each and every day people rise above that very real pain, choose to be victorious survivors and turn their real horror stories into stories of triumph. If we can use them as our role models and meet evil with good as often as we can, perhaps a better world will result. And even if it doesn’t, perhaps we caused a few people to stop and think and maybe change a behavior or two here and there.

The movie, Pay It Forward, depicts how 3 acts of kindness by 1 young boy resulted in a massive movement across the U.S. All he requested from the recipients of his acts was for them to do the same. He didn’t even request 26 acts as I have asked of you and me. So, my dear readers, I hope you will make acts of kindness your new habit and simply look for opportunities to do things for others as often as you can. Who knows? We may change a country if we do, and maybe given enough time, change a world.

I am not going to spend today’s post by telling you all about my acts (yes, plural) of kindness for this week, but suffice it to say, the final MIP count now stands at 103! Not bad, gang! You deserve a pat on the back! Thanks for participating in this little campaign and keep going!

Thursday’s Post: The Weirdest Diet in the World?

You might also like: 26 Tuesdays: Allison N. Wyatt; 26 Tuesdays: Benjamin Wheeler; 26 Tuesdays: Victoria Soto; and 26 Tuesdays: Mary Sherlach

Last week’s 26 Tuesday’s honoree was Benjamin Wheeler. On Friday I was literally using “the facilities” at a local restaurant and pondering what to do in honor of Benjamin. As I completed “my business,” I realized I was using the last of that particular roll of toilet paper. Out of sheer habit I discarded the empty tube, unwrapped a roll nearby and replaced it. It was only then that I realized I had just completed an act of kindness–not only for the next “inhabitant” of the restroom, but also for the staff of the restaurant, who happened to be quite busy with their noontime crowd.

I hope, as we honor our very last victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, that all of us, myself included, begin to do acts of kindness in just that way–as a matter of habit. The reality is that it takes very little money to fix the world’s problems. Often, all it takes is lots of people being kind in small and big ways each day. Imagine what the world would be like if all of us simply made acts of kindness a habit every day!

This now brings our MIP total of acts of kindness to: 97! I hope you will let me know about your act of kindness this week so we can get to the magical total of 100 by our last Tuesday next week. To do so, please submit a comment below. Thanks!

Our last honoree is Allison N. Wyatt. Here is what CNN had to say about Allison:

Allison N. Wyatt, 6

It seems fitting that Allison was already doing her acts of kindness and that she is our last honoree! Let’s finish this MIP series with a strong finish in her honor!

Tomorrow’s Post: Heaven isn’t what we think…

You might also like: 26 Tuesdays: Benjamin Wheeler; 26 Tuesdays: Victoria Soto; 26 Tuesdays: Mary Sherlach; and 26 Tuesdays: Lauren Rousseau