Have you been RAK’ed? The News Crew decided to give the new Random Acts of Kindness cards a test drive and see if this “being nice” business was as great as everyone said it was. Turns out…it was (overall) pretty great.

Anonymous Staff #1

My kindness card was to randomly give a special treat to someone. I wanted to challenge myself and give my treat to somebody I didn’t really know. However, I was very nervous about it and didn’t know how to approach somebody, so I asked my friend Patrick to help me out. At that moment, he saw a friend of his walking down the hall and he called him over. There were multiple boys walking in the hall, so I pointed to one and asked Patrick several times if the boy I was pointing out was the right one. Patrick told me “yes.” What I didn’t realize is that while we were both pointing at someone, we were pointing at different people. We didn’t realize this until it was too late. In a squeaky voice, I asked the wrong boy if he would like a granola bar. The boy didn’t respond and kept walking. Patrick then told me that that was not the right boy. Patrick’s actual friend then approached our group and I asked him if he would like a granola bar. Initially, he refused. I turned to Patrick and asked him what I would do now. Feeling my discomfort, the boy took the granola bar from me–out of pity. The goal of my kindness card was for me to be kind to someone else, but it actually led to another person being kind to me.  

Anonymous Staff #2

The kindness card that I received said, “If you think a nice thought about someone- say it out loud.” One day, while I was wasting time before a meeting, I was talking to Mr. Severson and I decided that now was the time to play my kindness card. I commented on how I liked his blue jeans and also his socks. He was surprised that I liked his blue jeans and it sparked a conversation on how soft his jeans are. This conversation brought joy to both Mr. Severson and I.

Anonymous Staff #3

My Kindness Card was “Sing a silly song to cheer someone up.” So naturally, the song that came to mind was “Chicago”, sung by Trina Vega in the hit Nickelodeon TV show Victorious. I started to sing this to my friend Maddy, but after the first word I sang she said, “No, stop!” I stopped and she replied, “I hate that song.”

Since my first try didn’t go so well, a few days later I tried again. In the hallway at school I serenaded my friend Audrey, who seemed a bit confused but smiled the whole time anyway. After I was finished with my performance, I asked if it had cheered her up. It did.

Go Cardinal Kindness!

Anonymous Staff #4

My RAK card said to compliment someone on their hair or outfit. I went up to someone who was wearing this super-pretty, cute dress and said, “I like your dress.” At first, it was awkward. But then she replied, “Thanks, I like your outfit too!”

Anonymous Staff #5

My RAK card was to leave a nice comment on someone’s Facebook post. Since I don’t use Facebook, I commented something nice on an Instagram post. Without thinking of any possible consequences, I comment that someone looked very nice on a selfie. But this kind act ended with her boyfriend direct messaging me a very angry and vulgar message about how I need to “back off” of his girl.

Anonymous Staff #6

My RAK card was to say thank you to someone in a special way. I remembered that in French class the week before, Madam Ames mentioned something about her plants always dying because she forgot to water them. I instantly thought of getting her a succulent, since you rarely need to water them. When I walked into French Club the following week I handed her the plant and she smiled and said, “Thank you.” Weirdly, that’s when my heart started beating super fast, AFTER I had already finished my task. You’ve been RAK’ed!!

Anonymous Staff #7

My Cardinal Kindness card read: Talk to someone new at school. I figured it would be pretty easy since I’m fairly out-going and enjoy meeting new people. The next day at lunch, following receiving my card, I scoped out the cafeteria to assess the number of kids I didn’t know. I immediately noticed there was a kid who sat by himself two tables down. I had chosen my mark. The weekend came and went and that next Monday I bought the guy a cookie from the school store. I walked back from the store and couldn’t find the kid at the table. I ate the cookie. The next day I tried again with what you could call “success”. The kid was sitting in the same place as before and I approached him with confidence. I sat down and offered him the cookie. He politely declined and we had a short conversation. I learned that he was in 9th grade, and that his name was Josiah. He was really cool, and at the conclusion of our conversation I once again offered him the cookie. He declined, and I ate another cookie. I met someone new and I got to eat 2 cookies, so I think I was pretty successful.

Anonymous Staff #8

The kindness card that I was given said to “hold the door open for someone who has their hands full”. Berg gave us these kindness cards at our first News Crew meeting which was about 3 weeks ago, so you would think that there would be plenty of time to get this done, right? As it turns out, people just don’t have their hands full while they walk through a door like they used to. I really struggled to find myself in a situation where someone needed my help holding the door for them (or I just wasn’t looking hard enough). But I finally completed the challenge.

On Monday night, heading into a FCA meeting, a woman was walking out the cafeteria door with a box in hand. I immediately thought to myself, “Now’s my chance! I’ll never have another like this before the deadline. I need to strike now.” So I walked briskly to the door so I could catch her before she opened it. There’s a twist though. As I was opening the door for her, I dropped all of the stuff I needed for FCA right in front of the lady, including, but not limited to: a bible, my 10 piece McNugget meal, 8 paper bags we were using for an activity later that night, and the lesson sheet for that night. So, I found myself in this awkward situation where all my stuff was sprawled out on the ground, while I held the door open for this lady who probably felt awkward as well because she probably could’ve easily just opened the door for herself. As she passed she said, “Thank you.” And that was it.

All in all, it was a great learning experience. 10/10  I would recommend holding the door open for anyone, preferably not when your hands are full.

Sometimes it’s not about the execution it’s about the effort.