Kindness is powerful, with the ability to change someone’s mood or their entire day. But, it can be taken for granted or not seen as important. Thankfully, there are people worldwide and even in our school, like Shane Tomb, who are dedicated to spreading more kindness. 

Shane is dedicated to doing Random Acts of Kindness and spreading happiness to people around him. This started when he read the book Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde, which tells the story of a boy who helps three people and tells them to pay it forward to three others to keep spreading the compassion. “It reinforces the impact of random acts of kindness,” he said about the book. It’s clear that it’s an inspiration to him, its powerful message of kindness inspiring him to keep working to spread it.

It only continued from there, from Shane volunteering at End Hunger Cafe over the summer to committing to doing random acts of kindness often in order to honor the message of the book. Volunteering was a good experience for him, especially because he could be in the company of other people who were committed to helping out. 

And though he doesn’t volunteer there right now, he still does random acts of kindness whenever he can. Recently, he helped an older neighbor pick up his garbage cans after they fell over because of harsh winds. This is one idea that anyone can replicate, but Shane encourages his fellow students to spread kindness in any way that they can. “It’s really nice to do it every day,” he says. “It helps you meet new people.”

Along with meeting new people, Shane knows the impact of kindness on himself and the people around him. Spreading kindness makes him feel better, and he really enjoys it. He also enjoys seeing how it affects the people he helps. “It makes them appreciate the little things.” 

Spreading kindness and love through random acts of kindness is a small, impactful habit that we can all benefit from. Whether you want to follow in Shane’s footsteps and volunteer or come up with something your own, the effect of your actions will lead to real positive change, for yourself and others.