Have We Forgotten How to be Kind?
By: David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

Do you remember a time when people were just plain nice? When people actually were polite to one another and said hello and held the door so others could enter a building before them.  When flying the friendly skies were, well, enjoyable. Do you remember when a gentleman opened the car door for that special lady in his life and out of respect, men took off their hats when entering a building? I remember times like that, and I have found that some people are trying to bring them back.

Last month, Carrie McQuaid learned that she would be traveling for business over her birthday, so she contacted Southwest Airlines and shared an idea with them. Her idea was to bring a small goodie bag for each passenger on the plane with a simple note that read “I hope that you have an amazing flight today! I truly believe that kindness is what makes the world go ‘round. Tomorrow happens to be my birthday. Yay! So I decided to put some love into the world and make you a goodie bag to make this flight more enjoyable. My birthday wish is that everyone on this flight would pay it forward to someone else. I’d like to believe that there are still really good people out there in the world. In fact, I bet you’re one of them. Let’s all make this world a better, kind place together. Safe travels on whatever adventure this flight is taking you.” What an amazing young lady. Here is a link to Carrie’s story : https://sosharethis.com/tells-flight-attendant-birthday-whole-plane-next-leaves-speechless/

During a quick search, I also found an article about a young expectant mother flying alone with her twenty-month-old son because her husband was unable to make the trip and she was very nervous. Her son began to fuss when suddenly a total stranger sitting next to her offered to help so she could rest. He simply said, “I’m a dad, and I would like to help so you can rest.” He then walked the aisle with the little boy for most of the flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta.

So how about you? What act of kindness are you willing to share with others? Can you image what our community would be like if each one of us did something nice for someone every day? Within our 307 MACNY member companies, we have over 50,000 employees. If each of us encouraged our team to reach out and spread kindness, this could be amazing.

I offer this as a challenge, what are you willing to do to bring back kindness to our companies and our community?