Tim Fischer AC
Former Deputy Prime Minister
1. The Power of Good
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile,a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo Buscaglia
On the nightly news we often hear stories of random, opportunistic crime perpetrated against strangers, but rarely do we hear stories of generosity and altruism from strangers. In an age which seems to be marked by “acts of senseless violence”, fed to us by the media on a daily basis, an act of random kindness from a stranger or someone not well known to us is heartwarming - and perhaps astonishing. There are, however, numerous examples of acts of kindness that never come to light and it is the purpose of this book to highlight some of the best of these - from both prominent and ordinary Australians.
I was first inspired to compile The Power of Good several years ago after being the recipient of several acts of kindness when my wife Ruth and I were backpacking around Australia. The idea came to us one dusk as we sat talking in a pine forest on Kangaroo Island. It had been a random act of kindness that had enabled us to make it to this beautiful part of the world.
We had left our backpackers’ hotel to jump on our flight from Adelaide airport to Kangaroo Island. After getting off a local bus we found ourselves a couple of kilometres from the airport with little more than half an hour before our flight was due to depart.
We were both toting heavy backpacks, there were no taxis around and we were walking as fast as we could. A young “tradie” in a ute pulled up next to us and said, “Are you guys alright?” We explained to him our predicament and he immediately jumped out, threw our backpacks in the back of his ute and drove us to Adelaide airport. We thanked him all we could and as he waved and drove away we were both struck by the generosity of his act.
There was nothing in it for him and yet he chose to bless us; without his help we would have certainly missed our flight and lost our non-refundable fare. That man probably cannot even remember the deed he did, and yet his kindness inspired this book: this is the power of one, ordinary act of good! Indeed, the kindness of strangers does more than merely warm the heart; it transforms lives - over half of Australians (59%) say that if it weren’t for the kindness, support, encouragement and gifts given them by strangers over the years, their life would be in a worse place.1
The vulnerability of travel and the naivety of youth allowed us to experience numerous acts of kindness during our backpacking adventure around Australia. Far away from the comforts of home and the security of everyday life, we found ourselves more open to receiving help from strangers and often found we needed their help. A man we met at a Christmas carols service in Gove, Northern Territory lent us his Land Cruiser 4WD to explore the surrounding areas and then had us over for a BBQ at the end of the day. Twice we were offered accommodation at the houses of people we had just met. We found country Aussies swift to offer a lift or lend a hand. In our wider travels we found that kindness was not limited to Aussies. In Jerusalem we found ourselves at Christmas time with “no room at the inn”. We were offered accommodation with a Haitian American whom we met at the Damascus Gate. He then proceeded to cook us dinner and invited us to stay again when we had finished our travels.
The numerous acts of kindness we experienced as a couple have only expanded since having children. Those small acts that perhaps seem insignificant make the world a beautiful place. The man who helps carry your groceries to the car when you have a baby in one arm and a screaming toddler in the other; the person who lets you in at the checkout because you only have a few items and they can see you are juggling tired children; the person who helps you lift your pram on to the train or who offers you their seat on the bus - these small everyday acts of kindness are significant and impact the way we feel about life in our community. The blessing of kind strangers never ceases to surprise and warm our hearts.
Finally, in 2010 we began to collect stories. We personally invited prominent Australians to submit their accounts of kindness, as well as receiving stories via our online panel AustraliaSpeaks.com. Submissions came in from people from all walks of life, including politicians, authors, radio and TV personalities, professional speakers, mums, students, teachers and business executives. All had amazing stories to tell. Here within you will find stories of kindness by people like Morris Iemma (former Premier of NSW), Professor David de Kretser AC (Governor of Victoria), Tim Fischer (Ambassador to the Holy See), David Richardson (reporter, Today Tonight) and Anton Enus (news presenter, SBS World News).
The stories in this book recall varied acts of kindness - abroad, in misfortune, in emergencies, during the formative years, and those for no particular reason at all (“acts of random kindness”). For one Victorian mother, a stranger’s act of kindness saved her from becoming engulfed by the devastating tsunami that struck Kamala Beach, Phuket, in 2004. In the case of news presenter Natarsha Belling and author Geraldine Brooks, their act of kindness from a stranger inspired the direction of their careers and, ultimately, of their lives. Geraldine writes: “I never met Althea Glasby, but her kindness shaped my childhood.” Miss Glasby’s kindness to a young Geraldine awoke within her a love of reading which led her to become an internationally renowned author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006. Natarsha recalls for us the act of kindness that cemented her passion for journalism and which also took her career to great heights. She opens: “I have a very special story to share where I experienced a wonderful random act of kindness that changed my life both personally and professionally.”
For others, their stories were less dramatic but, still, touching and inspiring with a powerful lesson to convey. Author Libby Gleeson colourfully recalls how a group of punks who “… had the lot: spiked-up green hair, loads of metal piercing their faces, huge boots and ripped army clothing” gave more than loose change to an old, homeless man, while others chose to ignore him as he shuffled on by, begging. These stories prove to us that in a seemingly hostile world, kindness can come from anywhere, at any time and, indeed, from anyone - even a bunch of “punks”.
Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Good versus evil
It is easy to become disheartened with humanity when our daily catch-up with the world involves few uplifting stories.
In a recent survey drawn from our national online research panel (AustraliaSpeaks.com), 95% agreed that the media reports more negative than positive news and 93% felt that this gives the impression that there is more evil than good in the world. It comes as no surprise then that only 31% of Australians think there are more acts of kindness performed in the world than acts of terror.
However, the reality is that more good goes on in the world than we are led to believe. In fact, off-screen it is good deeds that, by a large margin, outnumber the bad. Our research shows that for every reported act of road rage, violence or abuse, there are 38 acts of kindness towards strangers. Further, we found that 86% of Australians say they have gone out of their way to help a stranger in need, and 29.5% or 6.7 million Australians help a stranger “regularly”.
Here are more statistics to illustrate this: 49% of Australians say they have been shown “significant” kindness by a stranger, while 29% say they have been the recipient of kindness from a stranger over the past week. Further testifying to the power of good over evil is the statistic that