The Unselfie

Just when I was lamenting the seeming demise of random acts of kindness, at least from view on social media, a new concept appears called the unselfie. The unselfie is different from the latest string of selfies, by celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, President Obama, and even the VP Joe Biden. It’s not like the no makeup selfies or photo bombed selfies either. The unselfie depicts somebody doing volunteer work. Basically it’s a portrait of a random act of kindness. I've seen some photos of friends volunteering with orphans in Haiti and I think those would qualify as unselfies along with photos of college kids doing volunteer work during their spring breaks. There is an intrinsically good feeling that comes along with performing  random acts of kindness and I think looking back at an unselfie would reinforce that feeling and make me want to do more. I fell short of my random acts of kindness goal for 2013 but am happy to say that this year I have already surpassed last year’s total. I am feeling confident that this year I will meet my goal and probably have to set a higher one for 2015. On one hand I did perform a random act of kindness at my local bank when I let a very grouchy woman, who was complaining rather loudly about the fact that she had to wait in line and where were all the tellers…you get the picture…go ahead of me. I don’t think I’d want to take a selfie of that even though getting her on her way was most definitely an act of kindness for everyone, customers and workers at the bank included. On the other hand, more recently, when I was selling crocheted bunny hats at St. Marys Railroad’s Peter Cottontail Express I had the opportunity to see a beautiful smile blossom on the face of a little girl with Downs Syndrome when I gave her a pink bunny hat as a gift. Wish I had an unselfie of her to post here.