Last Updated on August 31, 2021
Mother’s Day is coming up. In the midst of a national pandemic that has many of us on edge, kindness and love and the human connection are at a premium. So maybe flowers just won’t do.
Author Brad Aronson is here to help with his inspirational words. “HumanKind: How to Change the World One Small Act at a Time” features a collection of short stories about the profound and contagious effect of human kindness and how a small deed can make a world of difference.
Inspired to write the book during a very difficult period in his life, Aronson started collecting real-life stories focused on random acts of kindness. The author, who lives in Philadelphia, began the project shortly after his wife Mia was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2014.
“When Mia got sick and was in treatment, we were in the hospital every day,” Aronson told people.com. “It was totally draining. But the nurses were incredible, so we decided to give it a try.
“While we were there, a patient advocate kept saying, ‘If you have two-and-a-half years of treatment, you need to come up with a project to distract you, give you a purpose, and something to do while you’re in the hospital all the time.’”
And so, Aronson went to work.
His stories include one about Gabriel Aljalian, who created a “Day of Kindness” when he was just 6 years old. And there’s the story about Pamela Rainey Lawler, who took note of all the food that restaurants were throwing away. She began delivering food to nonprofits in her station wagon, sparking a movement that now feeds more than 90,000 people a week.
He collected these types of stories for five years.
“I started asking everyone I knew, ‘Did someone ever save your life? Did a little thing ever change your life, or do you know someone?’ And stories just came out,” Aronson told people.com. “It’s really inspiring and heartwarming, and it’s also really emotional when you hear what some of these folks have been through and the challenges they overcame.
“It’s been such a privilege …The people in the book have done amazing things, and I really felt a lot of pressure to tell their stories as well as I possibly could.”
Not surprisingly, the book has been critically acclaimed. It’s a “Wall Street Journal” and “USA Today” bestseller and a Canadian Book Club Awards Winner. “The most uplifting and life-affirming book in years,” noted Forbes.
Also worth noting: All proceeds from book sales go to the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Check it out.
