You may be curious to know what is taught in the class. According to the newspaper report by Richard Hartung (a consultant living in Singapore since 1992), there is no exams or grades – just homework. Like, do something kind for someone we love and then do something for someone we don’t know. I would like to call it enlisting people into a kindness movement by getting them to consciously perform act of kindness for their loved ones and even for people they do not know.

As Richard says, “Kindness – the ripple with no end.” Indeed, the ripples generate from the act of kindness will travel far and wide; they will go on to affect many others from where they first start. However, the ripples on the surface of the water in a lake will stop if the factor generating the ripples stop. Like the rain stops falling on the lake or someone stops throwing stone into it.

Like the water ripples, the kindness ripples will stop too if we stop being kind. Therefore, we must continue to perform act of kindness in order for the kindness ripples to continue.

Richard asked a question, “Does a kind act here or there really make a difference?” I believe that no matter how small a kind act may be, it will go on to create ripples; it will always make a difference. As Dilbert creator Scott Adams put it more simply, “Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.”

Not only that, as stated in the newspaper report, “Thinkers from Confucius to Dalai Lama as well as research from the US National Institutes of Health and many other sources all cite benefits to both giver and receiver.” We don’t need to be a genius like Albert Einstein to understand that; who has not felt good from being kind to loved ones and to strangers?

A water ripple that hits a wall before it disappears may bounce back to its source, depending on the strength of the ripple and how far the wall is. However, a kindness ripple generated will propagate and eventually but surely, it will go back to its source.

Let us take the time today to generate a kindness ripple through a small act of kindness, which will surely bring happiness to the life of others and to yourself.

When I think of honesty, very often the fable about George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree comes into my mind. When asked about it, he cried, “I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie! I did cut it with my little hatchet.”

The anger died out of his father’s face, and taking the boy tenderly in his arms, he said, “My son, that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees!…”

However, there is no evidence that this ever occurred. This was part of a book of mythic stories authored by Mason Weems that made Washington a legendary figure beyond his wartime and presidential achievements.

I believe that most of us have lied in one way or another. In fact according to Dr. Gail Saltz, she believes that everybody lies. It may only be “white” lies, but everyone tells lies or “omits the truth” sometimes. Why do people lie? Dr. Gail said, “They lie to protect themselves, look good, gain financially or socially and avoid punishment.” Of course these are not the only reasons.

Whatever the reasons behind the lie, could one ever justify a lie that he/she made? Maybe it would be more acceptable when it was a “white” lie. Then again, “how can we make sure that people don’t abuse the uses of “white” lie?”

University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman said, “Anything that is not accurate is a lie. You can argue that a lie done to make someone else feel better is relatively minor. But they have an effect. The bottom line is that a lie is a lie.”

Although he did mention that it is socially useful to tell lies, I believe that in the end we always have the power to choose to tell the truth. As what Mark Twain said, “I can lie, but I won’t.” I hope that I will be strong to choose the truth at all time.

I have always reminded myself that lie is like a thrown boomerang, it will fly back to you … eventually. However, if I choose to speak the truth always, I don’t have to remember anything; I don’t have to worry about the snowballing effect that comes with continuous lying.

Randy Pausch author of The Last Lecture said, “Most people who have told a lie think they got away with it … when in fact, they didn’t.” One could have lied and fooled the whole world, but when one faced the mirror, one couldn’t lie or fool the one within. So I believe that Honesty is the best policy. Do you?