13 November: World Kindness Day

World Kindness Day is commemorated on 13 November each year. Humanitarian groups assembled on 13 November 1997 where they made a declaration of kindness. World Kindness Day was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement. It is observed in countries such as Canada, Japan, Australia, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

Kindness is the act or the state of being kind, demonstrated by goodness and charitable behaviour, ‘mild disposition’, pleasantness, tenderness, and concern for others. Any action that consitutes positive concern for others is shown on World Kindness Day with a declaration to continue acts of kindness throughout the year. Pledging to commit only one act of kindness is not the intention. Rather, the aim of the day is the awareness that acts of kindness should be as unconscious and continuous as regular daily actions.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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