Crazy Idea

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~ Aesop

Ever since I wrote last week’s post, I’ve had this crazy idea. What if I created a hashtag on Twitter that read something like “#Cascade of Kindness.” I don’t even know how hashtags work, so I’ll need help with that. But it would be fun if I, or someone, created this hashtag and it went viral. I think most of us can agree that some good vibes right now would be welcome.

As I was thinking about that idea, I was entering the college library, I had quite a bit of time before class, and a bird started singing. It was as if the bird was singing just for me. I stopped to listen for moment or two. I then thanked the bird for its song.

There are so many good things that happen all the time that pass us by. For instance, the sky lit with stars that I get to see upon arriving home from teaching. I’m always filled with awe of the beauty of those tiny points of light. Or the birds at our feeder. Or the quality of the light at sunset. Life is filled with so many beautiful people and things. Those are what we should be focusing on.

Of course, some of the blessings we receive present themselves as challenges and we fuss and fret about them. However, if I pay attention, I’m amazed at all the good things that come my way because I faced the challenge instead of trying to ignore it. Maybe one of our tests right now is to be positive in the face of so many negative things happening.

And that’s why I want to create a movement of people who will be kind to everyone, no matter what’s going on. What do you think the social media hashtag should be? Since Ellen DeGeneres is the one who inspired my thinking, I’d like to include her name in the title, but other than that, I’m open to suggestions.

That’s all I have for today. Just that one thought. Do you think you’d be interested in spreading a cascade of kindness? I’d be interested to know.

Thanks for reading, liking, and commenting. I hope you find someone to be kind to this weekend.

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards. It’s a little bit like Outlander in that it’s a historical, time-travel, magical realism, novel. Except that Jenna’s life is shattered and she must find a way to put it back together. When she finds old journals, she joins consciousness with her three-times great-grandmother, Morgan, rather than traveling physically. She is able to come back at intervals and apply what she’s learned to her own life situations.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published. To join her email list, click here. She will never sell the names on her list.

Published by lucindasagemidgorden

I grew up in the West, the descendant of people traveling by wagon train to a new life. Some of their determination and wanderlust became a part of me. I imagine them sitting around the campfire telling stories, which is why I became first a theatre artist, then a teacher and now a writer. They are all ways of telling stories. View more posts

3 thoughts on “Crazy Idea”

HI, Lucinda. Here’s what I know about hashtags.

1. All the text you want included in the hashtag has to be run together–no spaces. Otherwise the hashtag ends at the first space. So for yours, it would have to be #cascadeofkindness, or for easier reading #CascadeofKindness.
2. The only thing you have to do to create a hashtag is to start using it. There’s no “hashtag approval agency” you have to get permission from. By putting those two versions in this reply, I’ve created the tag for you.
3. A hashtag is a kind of filter. When people search social media for a hashtag, or follow one, they will see whatever content is posted with that tag.
4. A hashtag by itself means nothing. It needs to be included with other text that relates to the tag. So a tweet on Twitter would have to be “ #CascadeofKindness” (and the text of the tag counts toward the 280 character limit). A Facebook or Instagram post would work similarly. You can have multiple hashtags in the same tweet or post. You could pair #CascadeofKindness with #PayItForward, for example, since they’re similar concepts.
5. You can’t “make” a hashtag go viral. It either will or it won’t, and it depends largely on (a) the content it’s posted with, (b) whether that content connects emotionally with enough people, and (c) how often it gets used by people other than/in addition to you. The “cause” is more important than the exact tag. If it does go viral, it might not happen right away, and it could happen when you least expect it.

There you go.

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