Kindness in NYC? Who'd Have Guessed it?

This journal had been lost for quite a long time (two years!). Yet, after a lot of searching, I was finally able to locate it! And thus, I now want to continue its mission of spreading a bit of kindness to the lives of others.

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I work in New York City's Financial District, and every day, I see people trudging to work, seemingly dreading the day of stress and deadlines that await.

For my act of kindness, I want to help someone not feel as forlorn about work. I want to put a smile on the someone’s face before they head in to work for that important meeting or that big presentation. After going to college and working for a few years, I've come to see coffee as the lifeblood of the aspiring professional. Whether it be a cup of Joe to wake you up in the morning or an afternoon pick-me-up at 3pm, it seems to me that this magical liquid has a way of putting a smile on someone’s face.

This is why I've hidden three $10 Starbucks gift cards around the Financial District. Just a simple gesture to hopefully help brighten up someone’s day.

Heck, maybe this will inspire some more acts along the way.

In kindness,

Lenny

Note: Lenny is a phenomenal human being! Not only was he able to get the karma diary back and kicking, but he provided Starbucks gift cards to people in NYC.  So proud of that phenomenal young man!

2 years Later, Guess who's back?

"I think this diary is an awesome idea - a great way to spread positive energy for both parties. It's a great way for an individual to really flush out their feelings and know that their perhaps small acts are contributing to great things.

One incident in particular I want to write about happened to my friend and I when we were going to eat. As we walked down the stairs, a girl returning from Thanksgiving break dropped and spilled her bag all over the steps. We came to her aid, and while she was a stranger, found it easy to converse as we escorted her to nearby Henderson. Normally, I'm apprehensive about helping random people, but this turned out to be a rewarding experience.

I will now pass this off to my great and selfless friend, who will discuss this from a different perspective.

In kindness,

Jay Chopra" 

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"This diary reminds me of a project a friend of mine was working on called Karma Seed. It was a digital version of this diary, where you could track how your good deeds affected someone else and continued to pass down in kindness. It's a great way to share stories and inspire people to do good and to always be kind.

Jay and I wrote about the same incident, but i had a slightly different effect on me. The girl returning from Thanksgiving was so shocked that we would come to help her. The entire way back to her room, she was explaining to us that others had walked by and said nothing. It made me realize that, often, we get sucked into our thoughts and worries and don't really interact with others.

P.S. I misplaced this diary for 1.5 years, but hopefully it will continue to inspire kindness in others now that it will be passed along."

^This 2nd entry didn't have a name attached to it.

Danning + Tutoring = Amazing Kindness!

I sincerely love the idea of this diary. I always believe that when small
things accumulate, they come something significant. Even though individual
kindness recorded in this diary may seem to be small, when this diary is
full, the accumulative effect of individual kindness would become
significant.

I am really busy this semester and hardly have anytime to be with my
roommate. Luckily, we finally got a change to go to NY together this
Thanksgiving. My roommate is a very hardworking girl. She was the first
one among 10 of us to start doing her homework during Thanksgiving. She
had problems with her economy homework. Since I have learned Principles of
Economy in High School, I helped her with her homework and walked her
through the key points behind those questions. We had a really good time
together and I felt we became closer. Though I did not do it intentionally
and I feel it is too small an act to mention, I am amazed by how such a
small act could bring huge happiness to both my roommate and I,  and help
us get closer.

I now pass this on to my good friend Jay, who is always warm-hearted and
reliable, and to whom I have great gratitude since he has offered me so
much help since I came here.

In Kindness,
Danning Wang

Some Kindness from Chloe

I had never actually seen what the karma diary looks like after, so it was kind of fun to see that it is actually being written in and well-loved.

Chloe has some amazing advice about reforging old bonds with family and friends, and I loved reading her story.

CMU Delivers

Carnegie Mellon is the most amazing place in the world.  Here's some proof from Cynthia.

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Before I submit my diary entry, I just wanted to thank you for doing creating this Karma Diary. It is a simple idea but one that can make a huge impact. I hope to keep doing a kind act every day from now on.

-When this diary was introduced to me, I immediately loved the idea of spreading kindness and recording the rewarding feeling right after. I have always considered myself to be a kind person, but not the nicest. I am a strong believer in random acts of kindness because it can change someone's day, month, or life. 

I usually perform random acts of kindness in the spur of the moment, so I got a little nervous having to do one after I receive this diary only because I knew it would be slightly planned. Regardless, I found the perfect opportunity. One of my close friends (I'll call her Jane) is always willing to come with me to run errands whether it be on campus or off. I always feel bad, but I love her company. I don't see her that often to repay the favor because I am so busy all the time, but when I can, I will show her a token of my appreciation. I hadn't done so in a while (last time I bought her Razzy Fresh), so while running errands, I bought her some hot chocolate from the library. It's a simple gesture, but I could tell she appreciated it. When I go home for Winter Break, I am planning on getting her something more significant. It's not about the material item itself, but more about the reasoning behind it. 

I now pass this on to my good friend Danning, who has one of the sweetest personalities and hearts I have ever come across.

In kindness,

Cynthia Hsia

A Long Break, But Worth It.

I had lost faith in the karma diary, and was convinced that no one else seemed to think that kindness mattered.  However, there are some new posts that have suddenly been flooding my inbox.  I am so, so excited to post this and hope to see even more kindness coming from CMU and all over.
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After having the privilege of being granted with the opportunity to be a part of the CMU Karma Diary, I really wanted to not only do something kind, but also something that truly means a lot to me. So I started reflecting - what did I want to change? What do I regret the most? And why?

I hate to admit it, but the answer was quite easy for me - I regret not being able to be close with my brother. Throughout our childhood, we never got along and I was always so cold to him. He's such a sweet kid, and I was that mean older sister who didn't ever give him a second look.

So this was my chance to actually change this.

I've actually been thinking about it for a while and what finally decided to do this summe was to create a book club with the two of us. I feel like as a senior in college, there's a lot I could mento and teach my high school brother about, and I figured that there is no better way to do that than reading! My brother loves to read too so I thought it would work out for the both of us.

My brother was so hocked and confused at first. I was even a bit awkward. But slowly we both started to look forward to our weekly book club Skype conversations, me in chicago, and him in NJ. We even started going on tangents about what is going on in our lives and we were able to create a such closer bond in this way.

The world could use more kindness - I know I definitely could. So why not change that one person at a time with one impactful and meaningful experience at a time? That is what I tried to achieve with my brother this summer and even though it will be one long kindness project, I'm definitely in it for the long haul.

I will next pass this off to Ajit, who is part of the Alpha Kappa Psi pledge class. I believe that Ajit is off to do great things, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will do so.

In Kindness,

Christine 

Kindness from Florida, by way of Germany

By the time I received this notebook I was a Fulbright Scholar from Germany studying at UNF in Jacksonville, Florida, from August 2011 until May 2012. I know James Harrell from a Fulbright Conference in Berlin and a later meeting in Prague.

This book has nothing to do with whether you are a Fulbrighter or you know James or not. It is about kindness and I think James’ idea is great, so let’s spread it! I have to admit it took me some time to spread some Karma worth writing about, so I made up a plan that will be fulfilled after this notebook has reached the next person:

During my time in Jacksonville I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the differences between Germany and the USA. There are plenty of things that Germans can learn from Americans and vice versa. One of the things I didn’t like about studying at UNF was that it was incredibly expensive. High expenses make sense where they are justified but here and there it appeared to me that money wasn’t going to the right institutions. One day I sold a book at UNF book store which I bought used for 90 Dollars. They offered me 15 Dollars.

Since that book had already been used a couple times I imagined how I would find it back at UNF book store for 90 Dollars the next week; and guess what happened? Not only did this incident “spread some bad karma” but also reflected my observation that some institutions on campus are not there in order to foster and help students, but to get their money.

End of the story: I want to spread kindness and at the same time call people’s attention to the problem so I decided to donate a book that is used in my physics lecture to the society of physics students (SPS). The SPS will go into class at the beginning of next semester and do an auction on the book. The return should be spent on a barbeque for the class.

Cheers,
Lars"