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Dr. Darren R. Reid, a historian who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Dundee and is now a lecturer at Coventry University, told Bored Panda that it's often not the scope of an action that can make it honorable.
"Personally, the greatest acts of kindness for me come from the smallest of gestures," he said. "Holding the door open for a stranger, smiling at someone when you make eye contact with them when you pass them in the street, making conversation with someone you find yourself sitting next to on a park bench, etc. These are far from the most elaborate acts of kindness, but they are things we can all do every second of every day. They cost nothing and, if everyone did them, I think the world would overall be a little better."
But if Dr. Reid was to answer the question on Reddit, he would probably choose the acceptance of refugees from warzones with no preconditions. "We should not live in a world where governments (such as the British government) only accept refugees in limited numbers. The rhetoric and ideologies of the Far Right have been allowed to burn through our society for too long. It is time we start putting humanitarianism and human rights back at the center of our thinking," he said.
But teaching young people at Coventry University has taught Dr. Reid that random acts of kindness, even if it means simply being a decent person, still hold value. "The young people I teach are dedicated humanitarians who are dedicated to making the world a better place and fixing some of the messes that have been created in recent years. They give me a lot of faith in the future," Dr. Reid explained.
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But what about groups of people, not individuals? Are, say, governmental entities capable of acting in someone else's interest? Absolutely! Sometimes.
"In terms of historic examples, look no further than the Choctaw who donated $170 to Ireland during the potato famine," Dr. Reid said.
"You have to understand that the Choctaw were a Native American tribe who suffered terribly during this period. They were one of the first nations to be forcibly removed under the Indian Removal Act, a piece of legislation designed to ethnically cleanse the eastern United States of its indigenous population. Aside from being forced out of their homes, the Choctaw were then marched across the continent, a journey that cost them at least 25%(!) of their population. The journey was so devastating they called it the Trail of Tears. That's already an astounding loss, but once the Choctaw arrived at their new home, they had few resources and, so, even more of their population was lost. It was a terrible, genocidal incident, and it is in that context that the Choctaw, learning about what was happening in Ireland, donated whatever they could to help."
In a lovely epilogue, Dr. Reid told us many Irish made donations to help two Native American reservations (Navajo and Hopi) in 2020 during the outbreak of the coronavirus, citing the generosity of the Choctaw as their inspiration. "With stories like that, who couldn't be hopeful?"
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