Anyone on for Secret Santa?!

I watched some pretty cheesy Christmas films last year. ‘Santa Paws‘ was the cheesiest of these… my daughter’s choice, not mine 🤣. It’s essentially about Santa’s magic dog.

There was one cheesy film though that really inspired me, it’s called Secret Santa‘. Very sweet, literally dripping with honey 😜! It’s about spotting an unfulfilled need in others and fulfilling that need with an Act of Random Kindness (ARK), in whatever form is appropriate. Thoughtfully, secretly, giving something that is precisely right for that person at that time.

In the course of my eventful life 😂 and my travels, I’ve experienced the Christian faith to Judaism to Buddhism to the Moslem faith. It seems to me there’s a core message central to most religions, of being kind to others. Presumably this stems from our reliance on our immediate community historically (Ruby Wax talks about this in her brilliant book ‘How to be Human‘). All religions I know of advocate some version of ‘loving your neighbour’ and performing an ARK seems a great way to do this. I try! Even going to church these days. For inspiration please take a look at: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org

Now I’m back in Scouting (DYB DYB DYB and all that!), we promise to: “…do a good turn every day.” https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/961/the-cub-scout-law

It’s really another way of being kind to others. Religious and organisational values start to look interrelated, and many institutions cite kindness as a central value. Kindness could be seen as the fundamental to being human and therefore it crosses all cultures. Crosses religions. Crosses continents.

When I went into Oxford the other day, there was a group tending to a dead homeless man on the main street. At this time of year, homelessness is often on my mind. Its so cold outside and it could so easily be me, my friend, or my colleague in that position. Apparently the average family is only one pay cheque away from homelessness… Perhaps we could help the homeless more. Perhaps we could see others in suffering as like us, only less fortunate, this month anyway. There is alway a possibility that next month it’ll be me, you or us.

While I hope my life becomes less interesting (= less stressful) this year, of course it may not. I do appreciate all the help and support I had last year and I hope I can return the favour sometime. That’s my plan. Over to you.

Be kind people, be kind…

Love Ruth x

The header image is by Laurent Peignault on Unsplash