Everyone can do it, it all starts with one simple and sincere question: R U OK?
R U OK? is a suicide prevention charity in Australia. Their mission is “to inspire and empower everyone to meaningfully connect with people around them and support anyone struggling with life.”
Following R U OK? Day on 12 September 2014, I came up with this crazy idea: to reach out to strangers and give away those spare R U OK? Biscuits from our office kitchen table.
So, time to walk the walk! During my lunch time that day, I ventured into Sydney’s Botanic Gardens to start off the “promotion”. It was quite a brave move as I’d never done things like that before. Putting my nervousness aside, I thought: Oh well, there’ll always be a first time anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So what?! If they reject me. They aren’t monsters, they aren’t going to eat me alive.
First, I approached to a gardener who was on a small gardening transport. When he stopped in front of me, I got the opportunity to ask him if he’d like to have a pack of biscuits. He smiled and accepted it. I thought Wow that wasn’t too hard. Feeling rather confident, next I walked up to a lovely middle-aged couple and asked them the same question. They were pleasantly surprised by my random acts of kindness. Yes, they also smiled and accepted it. I thought great, my lucky day, it’s been well received. Time to challenge myself. Shortly after that, I deliberately selected some “hard targets”. What did I get out of it? A few “No, thanks” friendly responses.
As my lunch time was about to run out, I still had 2 packs of biscuits left in my hand. I decided to keep them to myself as a small reward for stepping out my comfort zone.
The next day, I posted this story on my Facebook and said:
I just wanted to spread a bit kindness. 3 people received mine today. If each of them does the same. By next Friday, in just seven days, 3+9+27+81+243+729+2187=3279 people will have received someone’s kindness. It is not hard to make our world a better place!
So, R U OK?
Ted Tsai 