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Forget the chocolate and the flowers. Avoid the mad dash after work to get that special card or gift for your sweetheart. Instead, how about giving an extra tip to the person making your latte at Starbuck’s today, giving money to a homeless person or your favorite charity, telling someone they look great or committing yourself to finally volunteer. Just do it.
I wish I could take credit for the fabulous idea but I can’t. A good friend of my husband’s and mine came up with it last year and the idea took off, with thousands of tweets and artices in Time and on Huffington Post. Now our friend is trying to drum up even more interest this year, and sites like Huffington Post are spreading the word!
Sasha Dichter is chief innovation officer for the Accumen Fund, a non-profit venture fund that tries to take the power of entrepreneurship to fight global poverty. In a post on his blog last year, Sasha wrote, “Let’s make the day about love, action and human connection – because we can do better than swarmy greeting cards, overpriced roses and stressed-out couples trying to create romantic meals on the fly.”
Amen to that.
Last year, Sasha created the hashtag #generosityday and encouraged people to share what they are doing, writing, “All acts of generosity, small and big alike, count.” Do a quick search on Twitter of the hashtag #generosityday and you’ll find tweets like these:
First act of #GenerosityDay--Bought coffee & a donut for the woman behind me at Sbux drive thru. @sashadichter is right, it feels good!...
Shared every meal I made today. Small things but generated a lot of smiles :) #GenerosityDay
So how about it? How about being generous today? One act of generosity could certainly be spreading the word about this amazing idea to your friends, family and followers.
And honey, if you are reading this, you are off the hook for roses or chocolate or dinner tonight!
Kelly Wallace is Chief Correspondent for iVillage. Follow Kelly on Twitter.
