Kindness is Contagious by Shawna Wu

As humans, we are afraid when things are out of our control. When “shelter-in-place” was issued, we stocked our refrigerators and pantries. When we hear of the ever-rising cases, we get anxious. From the nations’ leaders to their citizens, many have let this fear amplify into a whirlwind of negativity. Just like how the virus spreads, the negativity spreads along with it.

While the cases proliferating around the globe seem to be out of our control, our attitude and actions are in our control. We can choose to be immersed in the negative narrative of the virus, but we can also choose to be part of the positive narrative and spread kindness. From people singing together on their balconies to people delivering groceries to the elderly, many have chosen kindness. I also decided I did not want to linger in the negativity, so I decided to start cooking different foods. Trying out new recipes and tasting them gave me a lot of joy, and I wanted to share this with others around me. Every day for dinner, I would cook a new dish for my family.

Coming home from grocery shopping one day, I saw my neighbor Carly tending his garden. Seeing his growing age reflected in his slow movements and frail stature, I thought about how inconvenient it must be to go out for groceries. As we pulled into our driveway, I spotted our other neighbor Susan who had lost both her parents and lived alone with bouts of physical ailments. I thought about how lonely it could be living alone at this time. I then looked across the street at my neighbor Don’s house and realized how long it has been since I’ve seen him.

That night, I decided to cook more food than usual. With my hands full of containers and my mask on my face, I delivered the food to each of their houses. Seeing their surprised faces when opening the door and wide smiles when taking the food, it occurred to me that this was a challenging time, but it was also an opportunity. Although this is a time of “distance”, with positivity and kindness, we actually became even closer than we were before.

I never expected to be staying home for so long, but it turned out to be more time to spend with loved ones and to do things that make me happy. I shared food with others and I never expected anything back, but at the end of the day, my dinner table was filled with different foods.

I found that you don’t need to be a medical worker nor a scientist to make a change; even a small act of kindness could become a movement.

That’s because kindness is contagious.

The Above video is one of the entries from “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest”

We believe that the pandemic has generated a treasure trove of interesting stories, valuable and relevant contents about humanity in all its spectrums. Stories about generosity, heroism, kindness and outstanding services to fellow human beings on the other.

Ding Ding TV (Silicon Valley Innovation Channel and Voice of Asian Americans) , CLUSA  together with 16 partners presented “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest” bringing these stories to our community and simultaneously acknowledge and honor their creators.

The contestant should read and follow the Contest Rulers published on May 10th 2020 from following link:

http://www.dingdingtv.com/?p=57035 

The contestant acknowledge Rule 5, 6

5)    If background music and other visual, verbal and sound (reference) material are used from internet, the contestant must possess copyrights or have explicit permission to use such  material(s).

6)    By entering this contest, the contestants will have given DingDingTV and Contest Partners explicit permission to distribute the video widely on media channels, the internet and social media sites such as Youtube, Facebook, WhatApp, WeChat, twitter….etc.