Kindness

Definition

VIA: Kindness involves intentional acts of goodwill that foster positive relationships & community wellbeing.

Wikipedia: A type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without expecting praise or reward in return. It is a subject of interest in philosophy, religion, and psychology. It can be directed towards one’s self or other people, and is present across multiple different species and cultures.

Cambridge Dictionary: The quality of being generous, helpful, and thinking about other people’s feelings

Kindness manifests in various forms and ranges in intensity. It can be directed towards others, oneself, or towards the broader community. In some forms of kindness such as mutualism, kin altruism or reciprocal  altruism social norms would expect the kindness to be returned. Other forms of kindness such as random acts of kindness or altruism (particularly when anonymous) involve no expectation of returned generosity.  True kindness (regardless of who it is directed towards) shouldn’t carry an exptecation of reciprocity.  Practicing true kindness however will very likely be rewarding due to inner pride, contentedness or happiness.

Kindness may also be directed at oneself through self-compassion, self-acceptance, and self-care, which can be crucial for well-being.

Examples

Examples of everyday simple acts of kindness: Holding a door open, offering a genuine compliment, assisting others, giving up your seat or sharing.

More involved acts of kindness: Volunteering time to a charity or organisation that helps others.  Donating money or goods to charity.  Making larger sacrifices for others (eg time, opportunities or resources).

Exemplary acts of kindness: Putting your own welfare at risk to help others. 

Some notable examples include:

• The Skilled Veterans Corps: a group of older engineers and workers who volunteered to contain the Fukushima nuclear disaster on the basis that being elder they had less to sacrifice than their younger colleagues and hence should take the risk of radiation exposure whilst securing the site after the disaster.
• Luz Long and Jesse Owens (1936 Berlin Olympics) At the 1936 Olympics, hosted by Nazi Germany, German long-jumper Luz Long approached African-American Jesse Owens — a rival — during qualifying when Owens had foot-faulted twice and was at risk of elimination. Long quietly offered Owens advice on adjusting his run-up to ensure he safely made the qualifying distance. Owens went on to win the gold medal. Long’s act of sportsmanship in a context designed to promote racial hierarchy remains one of history’s most memorable examples of choosing human dignity over competition and ideology. 
• Oskar Schindler and the Schindler Jews (World War II) German industrialist Oskar Schindler saved the lives of over 1,000 Jewish people during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories and bribing Nazi officials to protect his workers from the death camps. What began as a business decision transformed, through daily contact with human suffering, into an extraordinary personal commitment. Schindler spent his entire fortune on saving lives. His story, depicted in the film Schindler’s List, is a reminder that kindness can grow — that sustained exposure to others’ humanity can move a person from indifference to radical generosity. 
• Desmond Doss, Combat Medic (Battle of Okinawa, 1945) A conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon, Desmond Doss enlisted as a US Army combat medic during World War II. During the Battle of Okinawa, under fire and wounded four times, he single-handedly rescued 75 wounded infantrymen by lowering them down an escarpment to safety. He prayed for the strength to save one more life with every rescue. His story — a paradox of entering combat in order to heal rather than harm — became the basis for the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge. Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor: the first conscientious objector to receive it. 
• The Town of Gander, Newfoundland (September 11, 2001) When US airspace was closed after the September 11 attacks, 38 international flights carrying 6,579 passengers were diverted to the small town of Gander, Canada — a community of only 10,000 people. Without hesitation, the residents of Gander and surrounding towns opened their homes, schools, community halls, and churches. They fed, clothed, and cared for the stranded travellers for five days. Many of the passengers formed deep friendships with their hosts that lasted decades. This story became the basis of the Broadway musical Come From Away. 
• The Lancashire Cotton Workers (1862) During the American Civil War, cotton mill workers in Lancashire, England, voted to refuse to process cotton picked by enslaved people in the American South — despite the fact that this meant losing their livelihoods during what became known as the “Cotton Famine.” Tens of thousands faced unemployment and poverty as a result. Their act of moral solidarity across an ocean, with people they would never meet, stands as one of history’s most extraordinary examples of collective kindness at great personal cost. 
• Jonny Benjamin and the Stranger on a Bridge (2008) In 2008, Jonny Benjamin — a young man living with schizoaffective disorder — was about to take his own life on a London bridge when a stranger stopped, sat beside him, and simply talked with him until help arrived. Jonny survived, went on to become a prominent mental health campaigner, and years later launched a social media search campaign called “Find Mike” to locate the stranger who saved him. He eventually found him. This story illustrates how a single act of human presence — of noticing someone and choosing to stop — can alter the entire trajectory of a life.

Suggested Track

Learn the basics first by reading the definitions and examples on this page. Deep dive into the topic, by reading one of the books suggested (or one agreed with your mentor) and listen to one of the podcasts. Watch a movie with a mentor and have a discussion about it afterwards covering off on the following questions:

• Is being kind easy?
• Are you inspired by kind?
• Can you see the benefits to those who are kind?
• Can you see the benefits to others due to an individual being kind?

It’s highly encouraged to also involve an experience, place or event in your track.

Finally set about completed at least one challenge. For those that are interested or want to stretch, move through more challenges.

Literature, Art and Media

Books:

• Just Mercy (Young Adults Edition) — Bryan Stevenson: Adapted from the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestseller, this is the true story of a lawyer who fights for the wrongfully convicted and most vulnerable people in the American justice system. A profound exploration of mercy, compassion, and the courage it takes to act on both.
• Wonder — R.J. Palacio: The story of Auggie Pullman, a boy born with a facial difference who enters mainstream school for the first time. Told from multiple perspectives, it examines what it means to be kind when kindness requires courage — to befriend someone the crowd has already decided to reject.
• Scars Like Wings — Erin Stewart: A teenage girl who survived a devastating house fire returns to high school, navigating physical and emotional scars. The novel explores how the kindness of others — genuine, imperfect, sometimes clumsy — can be what allows a person to begin healing.
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe — Benjamin Alire Sáenz: A coming-of-age novel about two Mexican-American teenagers in 1980s Texas whose friendship is defined by the unusual gentleness and care they extend to one another. Winner of the Pura Belpré Award and the Stonewall Book Award, it is a quiet, deeply moving portrait of kindness between people learning who they are.

Visual Art:

• The Helping Hand (1881) — Emile Renouf: A large-scale oil painting depicting an old fisherman guiding a young child’s hands on the oars of a boat. The tenderness between the generations — the patience and care in the older figure’s posture — makes this one of the most emotionally direct visual representations of kindness in Western art. It is held in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne, France.
• The Return of the Prodigal Son (c. 1668) — Rembrandt van Rijn: Rembrandt’s late masterpiece depicts the moment a father embraces his returning, broken son. The father’s hands — one strong, one gentle — cradling the son’s shoulders have been described as among the most compassionate images in all of art history. Henri Nouwen wrote an entire book of spiritual reflection about this painting. It hangs in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

Podcasts:

• Kindness & Compassion Podcast (Gordon Brewer, LMFT): A podcast drawing on psychology, psychotherapy, and spiritual tradition to explore how people transform their lives through practising greater kindness and compassion. Includes real stories of hope, reconciliation, and human connection — an accessible listen for anyone curious about the science and practice of living more kindly.
• KindSight 101: Hosted by an educator, author, and entrepreneur, this podcast explores resilience, mindfulness, and personal growth with a consistent focus on how small acts of kindness — in classrooms, relationships, and daily life — can accumulate into meaningful change. Practical and encouraging for a teen audience.
• Being Well Podcast (Rick Hanson, PhD): Neuroscientist and psychologist Rick Hanson explores the science of the brain and wellbeing, including episodes dedicated to growing compassion and kindness as trainable personal traits. Hanson’s work makes clear that kindness is not merely a feeling but a muscle — one that strengthens with deliberate practice.

TED Lectures:

• The Power of Kindness — Lucy Plummer. Drawing on discoveries in neuroscience showing that empathy and compassion are trainable skills, Plummer shares stories of young people changing their communities through intentional kindness — and argues that it is time for all of us to renew our belief in what kindness can do.
• Kindness is a Choice — Tallie Nikitchyuk. Growing up in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, Nikitchyuk reflects on how random acts of kindness created hope in the aftermath of a mass shooting. She argues powerfully that kindness is not a passive quality but an active, deliberate choice — one that can heal communities divided by tragedy.
• The Power of Kindness — Tom Morrill. A short, accessible talk exploring how kindness is contagious — how a single kind act between strangers can propagate outward through a community in ways the original actor never anticipated. A great starting point for understanding the science of kindness as a social phenomenon.
• The Magic of Kindness — Orly Wahba (TED 2013). Wahba, a middle-school teacher, created simple “Act of Kindness” cards for her students — and watched them ripple outward in unexpected ways. Her talk is a moving, practical case for the idea that even the smallest structured nudge toward kindness can change someone’s life. She went on to found Life Vest Inside.

Movies:

• Schindler’s List (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg): The definitive cinematic portrait of kindness at extreme cost. Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film follows Oskar Schindler’s transformation from opportunist to protector, and remains one of cinema’s most important documents of what human beings are capable of — in both directions — under pressure.
• Hacksaw Ridge (2016, dir. Mel Gibson): The true story of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon into combat yet became a war hero by saving the lives of 75 men. A visceral and ultimately moving film about the relationship between kindness, courage, and conviction.
• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019, dir. Marielle Heller): Tom Hanks plays Fred Rogers in this quietly extraordinary drama about what happens when a cynical journalist is assigned to profile one of history’s most consistently kind public figures. A film not so much about Mr. Rogers as about the effect his deliberate, practised kindness has on the people around him — including, by the end, the audience.
• Pay It Forward (2000, dir. Mimi Leder): A young boy devises a social experiment: rather than repaying a good deed, you pay it forward by doing something meaningful for three new people. A genuinely moving drama that captures the exponential logic of kindness — how a single generous act, if it carries an instruction to multiply, can change a city.

Movies for Younger Audiences:

• Wonder (2017, dir. Stephen Chbosky): Based on R.J. Palacio’s novel, this warm family film follows Auggie Pullman’s first year at mainstream school. The film handles difficult social terrain — cruelty, exclusion, and the social cost of standing up for someone different — with real honesty and emotional intelligence. Suitable from around 10 years old upward.

Mentors

To be completed by program coordinator.

Events

World Kindness Day (13 November, annually) Launched in Tokyo in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, World Kindness Day is now observed in countries around the world including Australia, the US, Canada, India, and France. The day encourages individuals, schools, workplaces, and communities to perform deliberate acts of kindness and to reflect on the role of compassion in their lives. Stay Kind Australia coordinates local celebrations and provides resources for schools and young people. 

Random Acts of Kindness Day (17 February, annually) Observed on February 17th each year, Random Acts of Kindness Day invites people to perform unexpected, unplanned gestures of generosity — paying for a stranger’s coffee, writing an appreciative note, offering help without being asked. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation provides a wide range of challenges, teaching resources, and a global kindness story archive that teenagers can both read from and contribute to. 

National Volunteer Week (Australia, annually in May) Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteering, National Volunteer Week acknowledges the millions of Australians who give their time and skills to support communities, organisations, and causes. It is also an invitation for people who don’t yet volunteer to try it for the first time. For teenagers, this week is a natural entry point to exploring kindness as a sustained commitment rather than a spontaneous gesture — and many organisations run special onboarding events specifically during this week. 

National Student Volunteer Week A dedicated recognition of the contribution student volunteers make across Australia. Schools, universities, and community organisations run events, service days, and recognition activities. A great opportunity for teenagers to connect with other young people who are already practising kindness through structured service, and to discover organisations that match their own interests and values.

Places

Local food banks and community kitchens Food banks and community kitchens operate in almost every suburb and regional town across Australia — organisations like Foodbank, OzHarvest, and SecondBite. These spaces are a front row seat to what sustained, organised kindness looks like in practice: volunteers sorting and distributing food to families in need, every week, regardless of whether anyone notices or thanks them. Volunteering here even once tends to shift a young person’s understanding of both poverty and generosity. 

Aged care homes and community centres for isolated elders Many older Australians experience significant loneliness and social isolation, particularly in residential aged care. Organisations like Volunteering Australia can connect teenagers with visiting programs at aged care homes — where the act of simply sitting with someone, listening, or playing a game can make a profound difference. These experiences often affect young people just as deeply as they affect the people they visit. 

Orange Sky Australia (mobile laundry and shower service for people experiencing homelessness) Orange Sky operates free mobile laundry and shower services for people experiencing homelessness across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. Volunteers sit and chat with guests while their clothes wash — no agenda, no agenda, just human conversation. Orange Sky explicitly frames its work as being as much about connection as clean clothes. For a teenager, volunteering with Orange Sky offers an unusually honest and direct encounter with both human vulnerability and human warmth. 

Wayside Chapel, Sydney The Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross (with a second location in Bondi) has been a centre of radical, unconditional welcome for Sydney’s most marginalised people since 1964. It operates a community garden and a café serving low-cost meals, and welcomes volunteers of all backgrounds. Its founding philosophy — that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity — is a masterclass in what kindness looks like when it is structural, sustained, and stripped of condescension.

Experiences

Write a letter of genuine appreciation Choose someone in your life — a teacher, a family member, a friend, a coach, a neighbour — who has made a real difference to you and has probably never been properly thanked for it. Write them a letter (handwritten if possible) that is specific: name what they did, describe the effect it had, and tell them what you admire about them. Research in positive psychology by Martin Seligman shows that this “gratitude letter” exercise produces measurable increases in wellbeing for both the writer and the recipient. Deliver it in person if you can. 

Volunteer with a local organisation Contact Volunteering Australia (via volunteeringaustralia.org) or your local volunteering service to find an opportunity that matches your interests — whether that’s working with animals, environmental conservation, aged care, mental health, food security, or youth services. Commit to a minimum of a month. The research on kindness suggests that its wellbeing benefits are strongest when the giving is sustained and relational rather than once-off — when you get to know the people or community you’re serving. 

Start a Kindness Journal for one week Each morning, set an intention: one specific act of kindness you will do that day. It doesn’t need to be large — it could be making eye contact and smiling at someone who seems invisible, leaving a kind note for a sibling, or letting someone merge in traffic. Each evening, write a short entry: what you did, what you noticed in the other person’s response, and how it felt. At the end of the week, read back through and look for patterns. What kinds of kindness came naturally? What felt harder? What surprised you? 

Join or create a peer support program at school Many schools run peer mentoring or buddy programs — connecting older students with younger ones who are new, struggling, or isolated. If your school doesn’t have one, consider proposing it. The skills involved — active listening, noticing when someone is having a hard time, knowing how to sit with someone without trying to fix them — are exactly the skills that kindness as a character strength is built from. Programs like Beyond Blue’s school programs offer frameworks and training for young people wanting to support their peers’ mental health. 

Participate in a community service project Take part in an organised community service day through your school, council, or an organisation like Conservation Volunteers Australia. Whether it’s beach clean-ups, tree planting, habitat restoration, or community garden maintenance, working alongside others toward a shared environmental or social goal is a powerful experience of what it feels like when kindness scales — when individual care becomes collective action.

Challenges

Challenge 1: The 7-Day Kindness Experiment

This challenge asks you to treat kindness as a deliberate practice rather than a spontaneous impulse — to make it intentional.

• On Day 1, write down a list of ten people in your life across different contexts: school, home, sport, work, neighbourhood. They don’t all need to be close friends — include some people you barely know.
• Each day for seven days, choose one person from your list and perform a specific, thoughtful act of kindness directed at them. The act should be genuine and considered — not random. Think about what that particular person might actually need or appreciate.
• After each act, write three sentences in a journal: what you did, what you noticed in them, and what you felt.
• On Day 7, read back through your journal. Write a short reflection: Did any of the acts feel easier or harder than expected? Did anything happen that surprised you? What did you learn about yourself?
• Optional: share your reflection with your mentor and discuss whether you want to continue the practice in some form beyond the seven days.

Challenge 2: The Gratitude Visit

This challenge is adapted from a classic exercise in positive psychology research that has been shown to produce significant and lasting increases in wellbeing.

• Think of one person in your life who has done something genuinely important for you — someone who made a difference at a crucial moment, or who has consistently supported you — but who you have never properly thanked.
• Write that person a detailed letter. Be specific: describe exactly what they did, explain why it mattered, and tell them what your life looks like differently because of their kindness. The letter should be at least one page and should feel personal, not generic.
• Arrange to meet the person in a place where you can read the letter to them out loud. Tell them you have something you want to share. Read the whole letter. Let there be silence after.
• After the visit, write a journal entry: How did it feel to say these things out loud? How did they respond? What did you notice in the room?
• Discuss the experience with your mentor. Consider: is there anyone else who deserves a gratitude visit?

Challenge 3: The Kindness Ripple Project

This challenge is inspired by the “pay it forward” principle — the idea that kindness, when passed on with an instruction to multiply, can reach people you will never meet.

• Begin by performing three specific, meaningful acts of kindness for three different people over one week. Choose acts that require some planning or effort — not just holding a door, but something that takes thought.
• With each act, leave a short handwritten note that says something like: “This is an act of kindness. If it meant something to you, pass it on to three people in your own way.” You don’t need to include your name.
• In your journal, track what you did and for whom. If any of the recipients are people you know, notice over the following weeks whether their behaviour toward others seems to change at all.
• After two weeks, research the concept of “moral elevation” — the scientific term for the feeling of being moved and inspired to be better that people experience when they witness acts of kindness. Write a one-page summary of what you find and discuss it with your mentor: does it match what you observed?
• Finally, consider how you might design a more ambitious version of this project in your school or community. Write a one-paragraph proposal and share it with your mentor.

Challenge 4: One Month of Service

This challenge asks you to move beyond isolated acts and commit to kindness as a sustained practice.

• Identify one organisation in your community that does work you genuinely care about. This could be a food bank, an aged care home, an animal shelter, an environmental organisation, a refugee support service, or a youth mental health charity.
• Contact them and arrange to volunteer regularly for one calendar month — aim for at least four sessions.
• Before your first session, write down what you expect it to be like. After each session, write a short journal entry: what happened, who you met, what was hard, what felt good.
• At the end of the month, compare your first entry with your last. What changed? What did you learn about the people the organisation serves? What did you learn about yourself?
• Write a short recommendation — no more than a page — addressed to other young people your age, explaining why this particular organisation is worth their time and what they might get from the experience. Share it with your mentor and consider whether you want to share it more widely.