Hey everyone! As you may know, my name is Ryan Young and I am a Sophomore attending Gannon University. Aside from being a student, I like to occupy my time hanging out with friends, being involved in clubs and organizations, and most importantly, spreading kindness. If you have not figured it out yet, I am starting a Random Acts of Kindness Campaign!

Acts of Kindness are events that occur in our everyday lives, whether they be as simple as holding the door for someone, or as extravagant as buying someone an unexpected gift.

I am sure you can recall at least one time in the past week when someone has shown you kindness- I’m going to ask you to recall that time.  Do you remember how you felt in that moment?

If you are struggling to think of a specific moment, I can give you an example from my life. During this past week, I had a very positive encounter with a faculty member at Gannon University. I arrived early for a meeting, and this faculty member walked past the area in which I was waiting. As I always do, I greeted him and we proceeded to have a small conversation about our weekends. Towards the end of the conversation, he paused and said, “You know, you never miss an opportunity to greet me. I appreciate that about you.”

It was in that moment that I was reminded of how small moments can have huge impacts. Greeting this person was something I had never given much thought, it was just something that I had always done. In my everyday life, my goal is to spread positivity by motivating, inspiring, and encouraging others. On that day, his words affirmed I am doing exactly that.

My point with this story is that acts of kindness have positive impacts on others. Showing an individual kindness gives them a warm, positive feeling of gratitude and appreciation. This feeling is the reason I am writing this post, and starting a Random Acts of Kindness Campaign.

I wish that I could allow everyone to experience this feeling, but I am only one person. I cannot impact every person in the world, or even every person at Gannon. However, if we work together, we can increase the amount of people we impact positively with our actions. Ron Hall once said, “Together we can change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time.”

Thinking of this quote, I have decided to start changing the world. For my first Random Act of Kindness that I am going to share with you, I have decided to write appreciation letters. If you recall my story, the faculty member I had mentioned expressed his appreciation. I obtained the inspiration from him for this, and I decided to write all of my colleagues’ appreciation letters.

I have been working with these individuals for over a month now, and I had started to notice qualities and abilities that they brought to the experience. In the letters that I wrote to my 17 coworkers, I started with the line, “I am very appreciative of your…”. I then wrote unique things that I had noticed and appreciated about each person.

Now that you understand the impact of a random act of kindness and you have my first example, I ask you: Will you help change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time?

If the answer is yes, please share your Random Act of Kindness using #RyansRandomActs, or by sending them to edge@gannon.edu!