Today, November 6th 2012 is the day is my birthday, and as I turn 35 years old, I find myself surrounded with election day, the national day of prayer, and many other big events happening, and for a split second – one split second, I felt down.
Then for whatever reason I remembered, deep down, what I’m really all about. I like to give. Side note: If you were looking for a sad story there I don’t really have one. I don’t do sad. 
For all of my faults and all of the wrongs I’ve done, there’s not a single person I can think of, who can truly say that when I have, I don’t give.
Like me or hate me, giving is what I do, and for those that don’t understand me or trying to figure out how I think, the best way I can describe myself so that what follows next in this blog makes any sense is this way.
I learned a long time ago, (and this is a Christian thing), that my top three spiritual gifts are compassion, serving and giving, so to me, it’s in my bones.
Tack on a bit of a geek and a programmer who creates and analyses for a living; and compound the fact that I’m an amateur writer and professional musician?
So think of a devout person who moves on faith, a scholar who moves on intellect, a scientist that pays attention to detail and analyses everything, a writer that needs to see the whole story from beginning to end, a musician who feels deeper and in a larger scope, and put them all into one person. That’d be me.
And oh yeah… I’m a Scorpio. Figure that one out!
So what does all of this have to do with a random act of kindness?
Nothing really, except now maybe you understand why I think the way that I do, because after that split second of feeling down and remembering what I’m all about, I started thinking about all of things I’ve ever heard about a random act of kindness changing someone’s life.
You’ve heard of them just like I have. There are people who will become a secret Santa and secret millionaires and people giving toys and foods away, and people just giving of their time and energy to help someone else – super stars every one of them.
That’s when I decided that I would do the same – hit someone with a random act of kindness, but not just someone… a whole lot of someones.
The Random Act of Kindness That’s Not So Random
With Hurricane Sandy past and all of the disasters this year, there is a wake of homeless and displaced people, and while food, water, and healthcare is vital, so is the dream of a home.
My favorite charity has been working overtime to make that dream happen for millions upon millions of people, driven by their vision: a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
That charity is Habitat for Humanity and they don’t get nearly as much credit as I think they deserve. Whether it’s US housing and community development, securing global access to shelter, or disaster response, they’re on the ground here and around the globe doing one random act of kindness after another, helping millions.
For my random act of kindness, I want to help them, and in turn help others. I want to make my selfish day, a selfless day. That is my birthday wish this year.
The best part? They have no idea that I’m doing this. I want them to see donations pouring in as a birthday wish from strangers, on behalf of a stranger, not just today, but all year long.
Will you help with a random act of kindness?
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Follow the link to the habitat site.
- Click on donate button.
- Under the payment information, click the gift card button.
- Donate putting my information.
You’ll be making a donation to habitat as a gift from you for my birthday. Make sure and select my birthday as the reason, and as you need an email address to give as a gift, I’ve set up this email for you to use: [email protected].
One More Gift For You!
And as my random act of kindness for taking time out of your day, I want to share with you something that has helped changed my life, and it’s not just about the money. As much as this is going to sound like an ABC Family special, it’s about the people who are taking massive action to help not just themselves, but their families and friends by building the financial future they deserve.
And it’s how I’m building mine, so that one day I will be able to not just blog about my desire to be a philanthropist, but blogging about the people who’s lives I’ve helped to change for the better.
I know – totally ABC Family special, but in a way, so is this business.
Now that is an awesome random act of kindness.
