My random act of kindness is a proud parent moment. When I came back from bootcamp one, I was so impressed with Kath’s message that I told my little girls all about how kindness was such an important thing for us to practice and embody. I have been very conscious of praising kindness and reinforcing this with them ever since. During their recent parent teacher interviews, both of my girls were asked to write down their annual goals and when it came to well-being, they both wrote “to be a kind friend to everyone”. I was so proud to see this and am thrilled when I see them practising their kindness every day.

Kath taught me to reposition kindness. In most instances, kindness for me had been situational, a quick reaction to something that happend followed up with a ‘how can i help’, Kath’s approach is proactive, go into the day thinking i’m just going to do one thing, the qualification of kindness unspecified, and i’ve picked this up and run with it. My goal is small act a day, the macro goal is to get my two young girls to do the same. So when you next see me in the park, telling my youngest to ‘just pick up the rubbish mate’ it has nothing to do with my desire to clean up our local environment, instead it is an quick accesible way to articulate kindness that even a 2yr old can understand.

I’d just settled down to a long Sunday lunch with a bunch of friends. I hadn’t noticed the elderly man sitting alone at the table behind me, but when I got up I caught his eye and he said hi. Usually I’d give a quick hi back and go on my way, but Kath Koschel’s voice rang in my mind and this time I stopped, I said hi and asked how he was.

Well what a treat I was in for – I quickly realised that Jack from Surry Hills was not just a man sitting having a beer on his own, I’d stumbled upon a legend with no shortage of incredible stories and a different perspective on life. I was taken on a journey of his months-long roadtrips around Australia in his youth, the people he met and the sometime-quite-naughty things he got up to.

Then …. he shared his prize possession with me, a book. He handed it to me as of it was a fragile egg and told me to read it, so I did. I started on page one, then page two…. it was a book of quotes from musicians throughout the centuries, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bach… and that’s when he stopped me. He said, Kim ‘don’t just read it, flirt with it, work with it, get to know it’. And that’s what I did – putting my usual ‘must-do-things-in-order’ mindset aside (which was no mean feat for me) I started darting to random pages reading quotes in all sorts of orders whilst he told me of his days as a famous Australian musician, how this book helped drive his inspiration, how it made music in his mind and I suddenly saw it.

I didn’t see music in my mind, but what I did see was a big gift that he’d just given me – a new perspective. A different way of looking at things that made me realise I can flirt with life a little more and try a new path that might just lead to somewhere quite amazing. Jack then offered for me to take that wonderful book to pass on the joy it gave him – one of the kindest acts I’ve encountered.

So Jack, thank you for taking the time to say hi, for your wisdom and your stories. You made my day and you reminded me why we need more kindness in this world.

Kath Koschel’s story moved me in so many ways. Kath has faced adversity more times than many
would struggle to face in one life time. Her courage and resilience is inspirational. But above all, it’s
the movement she’s championed from #OneSmallAct and inspiring others to be kind.
It inspired my one small act. Buying a cup of coffee for the lollipop lady at the school next door.
During lockdown the hustle and bustle of drop-offs weren’t the same. Yet she never failed to wave
and give a big smile, keeping the neighbourhood’s spirit up.