The Cycle of Kindness

Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. It shows warmth, affection, and a sensitive heart. It is a virtue; and is recognised as a value in many cultures and religions. It is also an inherent quality, and not something that can be learnt in a classroom. In the words of prominent social thinker and art critic of the Victorian Era, John Ruskin, “A little thought, and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.”

Don’t you agree? Kindness costs nothing. But it definitely leaves the recipient richer and better-off. What’s more, kindness is also pretty easy to practice. All it takes, is a genuine thought in your mind, and then it’s only a matter of smiling at a child waiting for the bus, or giving a hand to someone getting on a bus, or leaving your seat for someone more deserving, or even offering to share an umbrella with someone during a sudden downpour. It is as simple as that. All it takes, is some sensitivity and warmth on your part. And armed with that, there is nothing a kind person cannot achieve. Like the little hero I am going to tell you about today.

All of six years, this little good Samaritan has, with his splendid deed, taken kindness to a whole new level! At an age where most of his peers enjoy games like soccer, and hobbies like cycling for the mere joy of it, this little boy has combined his love of cycling with his natural sensitivity, to achieve something that very few children of his age even think of!

Meet our little hero, the six year-old who cycled over 166 kms in just a month for the Great Cycle Challenge to fight children’s cancer! And – here’s the real juicy part – through the challenge, he’s raised over $2000 to help end childhood cancer and save little lives!

Here’s a regular six-year old, who enjoys books and sports. “His favourite sports are soccer and rugby,” his mother tells us. He also enjoys cycling and it comes naturally to him. He doesn’t see it as a sport or an activity, but just goes with it as naturally as we go about walking. And it was this natural flair and love for cycling, that led his mother to think that he would do well in the Great Cycling Challenge.

“[The Challenge] was all about raising money to fight Kids cancer,” his mother says, “and this cause is very close to our hearts, as our nephew was very closely affected by it.” As part of the Challenge, our little friend had to ride his cycle throughout the month of October, and get people to donate money for the cause. As his mother says, “I thought this would give his cycling a definite purpose. So I spoke to him about it.”

But a child is a child, after all; and so it was, that initially, our little hero was a bit overwhelmed by the fact that he would be committing to ride for an entire month. But that was when the mother and son had their talk. About his cousin who was affected by Neuroblastoma when he was around two years of age.

Speaking about it, his mother shares, “he knew about his cousin, but children sometimes do not understand the gravity of the issue. So it helped giving him the context. I explained to him how many children around the world were affected by the disease, and not everyone is fortunate enough to afford treatment. After our talk he was comfortable to participate. And when we did the math of how we would achieve the goal he was like “oh yes... I can do that!””

Talk about positive attitude!

Explaining about setting the goal and achieving it, his mother reminisces, “We had set a goal of 150 kms and had initially looked at raising $150 (a dollar for every km). We set the goal calculating how much cycling he does on a daily basis and then added an additional 20 kms to the total so he would be pushed a little more...”

She even got fellow parents in the community, and his school on board! “I sent the link to the parents at his school and our friends. I also posted it on social media,” she recalls.

And then came success!

“We reached $150 in like 2 days!” she tells me. “So, I raised the sum to $500. But again we smashed our fund raising goal; and eventually, we raised $2709!” she gushes.

That is commendable. And definitely a proud moment for the family.

“Oh yes it was a proud moment,” his mother says; “especially as it was a bit tough given that the month of October started with rains every day and we did not even get to start cycling till the second week. We were beginning to worry as whatever you plan sometimes nature has different plans; and you cannot do anything about it.”

But like they say, all is well that ends well.

When asked what inspired them to take up this challenge, and why now, his mother tells us “The inspiration came from his cousin’s situation.” Speaking about the cousin, she says, “[he] was around two, when he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. So we had seen him go through treatments. He did have a successful operation, but complications developed later, which lead to him being bed ridden for 6 years. He was a gorgeous kid who was always so happy and playful. He would love to sing songs and read his books,” she reminisces. “I still remember when we were having fun one time painting together!”

But inspired or not, keeping a child of six years motivated enough to honour such a big commitment, is not easy task, as any mother would know. Speaking about motivating him, his mother says, “Keeping him motivated was manageable most of the time. But since nature decided to make it a bit more challenging for us, we had to get him to do additional cycling on weekends. And this made it more difficult for his dad, as our little hero would cycle 15-19 km on a Sunday if his dad would cycle with him. And so it was really more about keeping his dad motivated!” she confides.

Yet another thing to come out of this exercise, was the fact that the entire community where the little hero resides, came together to motivate and encourage him. One could say, they showed kindness in their own unique ways. “His school, and parents of the other kids were amazing!” his mother tells, “When we first told everyone, they had only encouraging words for him, and since everyone told him how proud they were of him, he too felt nice. He would come home and tell me about how one of the parents had said something nice to him. And I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice how it made him feel good. It was most of the parents of his friends, who donated generously and that’s how he managed to reach his target so quickly!” she adds. 

To me everything about this story is beautiful. A little child showing sensitivity and commitment to kindness; and then seeing it to fruition. A community motivating and cheering for a little hero who is doing something good. And most of all, the parents, who are teaching him, at this young age, to look at the silver lining in an adversity, while doing whatever is in our power to help those less fortunate than us. 

Everything about this story is inspiring to me. And tells me that it is very simple to be kind. And kindness will surely come back to you as the cycle of kindness continues. Or, in Princess Diana's famous words, "Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day, someone might do the same for you." 

So then, this World Kindness Day, can we pledge to make kindness the norm? 

Note: This article is based on a true story. And names have been withheld to honour the family's right to privacy.