Andrea's Ten Year Kindness Experiment
With every contact I make,
and every time I am kind or generous to someone I pay
attention to how he, she treats me in return. Usually the
recipient is in a higher financial bracket than I - not
unusual considering my circumstances - and many times the
response is lack of manners or apathy. Some will accept,
and others will not. Sometimes I receive the obligatory
"thank you" and that's fine. But more than half of the
people for whom I do something unexpected (always something
they have expressed a need or desire for) treat me with
contempt or disrespect thereafter.
Quite a few refuse to every speak to me again. That's sad,
because they then miss out on more of my generosity. It
doesn't matter if I tell each person upfront that I am
writing about my experience with him or her... the response
is still often very unkind or impolite.
I plan to write about my experiences, not as a complaint
but as a means to analyzing the behavior to understand it.
I will call it
The Kindness Experiment and everyday I collect new
material. Everyone is fair game... including the people who
enter my essay contests.
Ten
years ago I owned a Bed and Breakfast in Toronto where I
hosted and entertained authors and visitors from all over
the world. It was my dream fulfilled. Then I experienced a
home invasion and had to shut down my home and business and
leave everything behind to stay safe. I'm one who turns
lemons into lemon meringue pie, so here's what I decided to
do.
I wanted to see how people would treat me:
a. if I revealed to professionals and neighbors who
didn't know me that something catastrophic had happened to
me, and
b. if I treated them with all the kindness I could.
The results were astounding and baffling. It is my
experiences over the past ten years that I want to share in
both book form and as speaking opportunities in schools,
universities, large practices, business conferences,
conventions, etc.
I have ideas to share with lawyers, physicians, realtors,
teachers, landlords, neighborhood and community groups.
Book
publishers may contact me if they
want to see my book proposal.
Newspaper
editors may publish a sample
column for free.
Meeting
planners may contact me to discuss
my addressing their group's needs when I speak or conduct a
seminar.
info@AndreaReynolds.com
