Be Kind to Humankind

This write up was found on a bulletin board of a national corporation in New York City in 1993. We’re not sure who the writer and illustrator are. At the time the web was still brand new so any publicity we received was by newspaper, magazine, book, radio, and of course, bulletin board. We have a few more pieces of publicity that we saved which we’ll be sharing on this website soon.

Did you know…August 25-31 is “Be Kind to Humankind Week?”

Discouraged and angered by a daily diet of life’s negative news, housewife and mother Lorraine Jara, of Toms River, New Jersey, started “Be Kind to Humankind Week” in 1988. Thousands of new friends and five years later, this event is celebrated by people across the United States.

Be Kind to Humankind week highlights the need for people to perform positive acts of love and kindness for others – and ourselves – to counterbalance the negative things we read and hear about every day. “To make the world a better place, we must first change our attitudes for the better,” says Lorraine. “We have the power to create our own good news every day if we choose to do so.”

According to Lorraine, we have the power each day.

Lorraine suggests, for instance, that on Sunday we can sacrifice our wants and needs for other’s needs; Monday we can be considerate to motorists; Tuesday we can touch a heart; Wednesday we can be willing to lend a helping hand; Thursday we can be thoughtful; Friday we can forgive a foe; and on Saturday we can speak kind words.

The first year of Be Kind to Humankind Week, Lorraine and her family celebrated it alone. The next year she talked her friends and neighbors into joining them. By the third year, thousands of people participated. It was a success.

Radio stations and newspapers across the country began interviewing her about the “holiday.” Representatives of Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush sent letters of support. She even got the attention of entertainers like Oprah Winfrey, Shirley MacLaine, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel.

But what Lorraine values most is the support of people all over America who believe, as she does, that human beings are essentially good-hearted, loving and kind. “I know that there is evil in the world, but it doesn’t outweigh the good,” she says. “We just need a better balance of good news. It’ll improve our health, relationships and we’d leave this world a better place for our children.”

Who says that one person can’t make a difference?