Random Things You Can Do to Make the World a Better Place

We live in a pretty good world. Sometimes it can get frustrating, but on the whole it’s a pretty dandy place to live. Of course, there are those times when it just feels like the right thing to do that extra something to brighten someone else’s day. Here are 20 small things that you can do to put a smile on someone’s face today, tomorrow, this weekend, or whenever you feel the urge to reach out and make the world a brighter place.

• Make a batch of brownies and take them to the local old people’s home.
• Pay for the person’s lunch behind you in the drive through of a Takeaway joint.
• Hand out cold soft drinks to Council workers on the side of the road.
• Give toys to a charity or donation centre.
• Write a handwritten thank you note to your son or daughter’s teachers at school and put the notes in their mailboxes.
• Give a plate of homemade biscuits to the receptionist at your child’s school.
• Leave a balloon on a friend’s doorstep, either for a birthday or just for no reason at all!
• Take a load of clothes to a donation centre.
• On Christmas or any holiday, buy a pack of greeting cards, write a handwritten note on each, and give them to a nearby nursing home or retirement centre to be distributed among the residents.
• Go and spend a day reading or playing cards with the people at the retirement villages.
• Ring the Council to commend an employee or action rather than complain.
• Buy popcorn for the people behind you at the movies.
• Go to a nearby laundromat and put coins in all the machines, giving the next user a pleasant surprise.
• On the next rainy day, take a far away parking spot at the grocery store, leaving those closer spots open for someone else.
• Put some of the shopping carts away that have been left in aisles and between cars in the parking lot.
• Help an old lady carry and load her groceries, rain or shine!
• Tape a cheerful note to a vending machine along with a few coins for a free soda.
• Put some coins in all the gumball machines at the grocery store entrance to give a kid a smile.
• Find a registry of men or women in military service and mail a postcard to one of them.
• Next time you’re at the supermarket, let someone else go in line ahead of you. Even the smallest things can make a difference.
• If you know anyone with a friend or family member in the hospital, take a batch of cookies to their house along with an encouraging note.
• Post an anonymous thank you note to the local Police Station or Fire Station.
• Leave beer on the bin for the bin man.

Those are just a few short ideas, but there are millions of things you can do each and every day to show a bit of kindness and made someone’s day.