The Problem with Random Acts of Kindness
A friend of mine once gave me a bumper sticker that says:
At the time I saw it as an inspirational message. But the more I learned about Judaism, the more this bumper sticker bothered me.
I found a response to “random acts of kindness” that expresses my thoughts exactly (source: Aish.com)
For what our society needs more of is not random kindness, but sustained and dependable kindness…Of course a random kindness is better than no kindness at all. But it is the ethical equivalent of sitting down at the piano to bang out “Chopsticks”: quick, easy, and not very serious.
Not only does human society require “sustained and dependable” kindness - as opposed to random kindness - but an individual person who wishes to grow spiritually cannot grow from doing random kindness alone. You can’t grow a house plant if you water it at random intervals - it just won’t grow.
However, for the individual who wishes to grow spiritually - to refine his or her character - there is value in doing random acts of kindness of you do them often.
A great rabbi (I can’t remember if it was the Rambam or Rashi) answers the age old question:
Is it better to give $1,000 in charity to one person or $1 in charity to 1,000 different people?
He answers (in my own words):
Better to give $1 to one thousand people; for after giving charity 1,000 times, a person is completely transformed.
My own experience in performing random acts of kindness, is that they can lead a person to make kindness a habitual part of his life. And if that will make people more like Hashem, Whose kindness has no end, G-d bless them.
I would just note that Hashem has a greater “record” of sustained and dependable kindness compared to His “record” of R.A.K.
(I don’t even know if you could say that Hashem does R.A.K. - that’s how dependable His kindness is!)
Think about it.
Torah
Non-Torah
Tags: chesed, kindness, random acts of kindness




