World Kindness Day: History and Specialty

A day to spread the kindness a bit more than usual

To promote kindness throughout the World, an international holiday was formed in 1998. This day is known as World Kindness Day. It is observed on the 13th of November every year. This day is observed in many countries on different dates, however, it is celebrated today in the United States, Canada, India, Italy and Australia. This day was first introduced as a part of the Kindness Movement.  

In 2019, the organization was registered as an official NGO under Swiss Law. The history of this group goes back to 1997. A variety of institutions and associations came together at a Tokyo-based convention. The initial formation of the World Kindness Movement was a result of this event. The aim of this group was to build a kinder and compassionate World. This led to the inauguration of the World Kindness Day in 1998.

After the day was introduced, it took two decades for it to get a greater reach. For the first time in 2009, the day was observed in Singapore, India and Italy. In 2010, UK founded its own Kindness Day UK. Israel and New Zealand formed their own days for celebrating kindness too. The objective of this day is to spread kindness in small gestures and that was being achieved slowly.

The purpose of World Kindness Day is ‘to highlight the good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness which binds us.’ It is important that kindness prevails in any community for peace and calmness. On this day, everybody should do at least one act of kindness like donating clothes, adopting a stray pet, giving food to the needy, etc. It does not need to be specifically only today. Each day on Earth, is a day for us to do an act of kindness.