The Good Stuff: February 24 thru March 2, 2013

The big news all around the world this past week was Pope Benedict’s last day in office.  On February 28, Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to step down from the papacy, marking a significant historical moment in modern Catholicism.  On March 4 the College of Cardinals – a group of 115 cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to vote for the new pope – will convene daily to determine who will fill this vacancy.  Since no one knows how long it will take the College to choose the Church's new leader, NPR’s Morning Edition decided to have a little fun with the selection process by creating a March Madness Bracket, Vatican Style.  Feel free to print out your own version and play along J  

Who do you think will emerge as the winner?

This week I decided to do something a little different for my “Good Stuff” post.  Cindy Dwyer, a blogger I follow and who also contributed a guest post here for the “In Celebration of Mothers” series, wrote this past week about her participation in the #26Acts of Kindness campaign.  Basically, the purpose of this campaign was to honor the 26 victims of the Newtown, CT shooting by performing random acts of kindness for 26 days.  Participants then tweeted their actions, using the hashtag, “#26Acts”.  When I read her post I immediately thought it would be a great fit for this series as a way of sharing some simple, everyday ideas for making a difference in the world around us.  I am re-blogging a portion of her post here, and I hope you will pop over and finish reading the remainder of her list.  I think you will find some great ideas to bring to your own little corner of the world.

26 Acts of Kindness

When I heard about the 26 Acts of Kindness that some people decided to do as a way of honoring the victims of the school shooting here in Newtown, CT, I immediately knew I would join them.

I tweeted each one along the way, but here they are altogether, for those of you who are smart enough not to waste time on Twitter:

1. I let a stranger in front of me at the register #26Acts

2. I drove out of my way because my kids wanted to see more Christmas lights before we got home #26Acts

3. I took the time to truly listen to a co-worker who was having a bad day, even though I faced a deadline #26Acts

4. I crawled out of bed to retrieve my husband’s forgotten cell phone for him, so he wouldn’t oversleep #26Acts

5. I baked cookies to show my appreciation for my co-workers #26Acts

6. I brought in a toy for the toy drive at work #26Acts

7. I gave a stranger my parking spot #26Acts

 Read more of Cindy's post here....

Now it’s your turn.  What ideas from Cindy’s post appeal most to you?  What Random Acts of Kindness have you performed recently?  Do you have any ideas that you’d like to add?  Also, did you know that the pope has a Twitter account?? Seriously, you can follow him at @pontifex, but his account, which has over 3 MILLION users in 9 languages, has been frozen until a new pope is elected. And I thought my 800 followers was pretty impressive….