Making Random Acts of Kindness Routine

Fido’s #1 priority is meeting your needs. When you’re bored, he’ll suggest an energizing walk. When you’re blue, he’ll provide a head to stroke for a calming effect. One of the joys of dog training is watching your pup’s eyes glued to your face, eager to identify what you want him to do to make you happy. And there’s no better treat for your dog than your excited praise that he’s done just what you wanted, which will beat out piece of liver treat any day.

Fit As Fido has an entire chapter devoted to learning to care for others, called Be Man’s Best Friend. Caring for others is important for your community AND essential for your good health.

Today, I received a message suggesting we should all do random acts of kindness to help spread the joy of the season. While random acts of kindness are obviously good, they’re not good enough for Fido. He’d never have something as important as spreading cheer be a random event that may or may not occur.

Fido would prefer the Boy Scout good turn. A good turn is simply a good deed that needs to be done. Scouts are trained, like Fido, to be on alert for what things need to be done and, when something is spotted, doing it without being asked. When my brother was a Cub Scout, he put on his Cub pin each day upside down. Every day, he had to do a good deed before he could turn his pin right-side up. This simple routine helped form a habit of focusing on the needs of others and then jumping in and helping when something needed to be done. Because I wanted to do everything my big brother did, I too started requiring a good deed of myself each day and find that as an adult I’ll still remember this credo most days. When out shopping, I may pick up a piece of trash, help a senior load her groceries into her car, or hold open a door for a mom with a stroller. Before I think about it, I hear myself saying, “Today’s good turn!” And knowing a good turn is needed each day forces me away from my computer and out into the world to find someone in need of a good turn! Don’t want to go to bed without getting that good turn in!

Boy Scouts has a long history of service to others. The Boy Scout good turn program has reached a new level with the Good Turn For America program. Today’s Scouts will be tomorrow’s leaders, focused on improving society. So the next time a Scout asks you to buy some popcorn, help out with an Eagle project, or make a donation — do what Fido would do and say, “Absolutely! And how else can I help!”

So let’s do acts of kindness. But, like Fido, let’s make them as routine as brushing our teeth. Take a lesson from the Boy Scouts and add a good turn to every day.