OPINION: Measuring the kindness of strangers
How many people honored this year’s World Kindness Day on Nov. 13, preferably with a random act of kindness? How many even knew about it? By one indicator, probably fewer than in previous years.
The proportion of people who “helped a stranger” went down last year, according to the latest World Giving Index. It fell 1.8 percentage points, with 80 countries seeing a decline compared to 52 that saw an increase.
Public indifference toward World Kindness Day may be excused by the fact that the annual celebration has only been around fewer than 20 years. Perhaps even younger is the science of measuring kindness (if it can be measured at all).