One good turn deserves another.
That's the phrase everyone should keep in mind this week as Scouts Canada celebrates Good Turn Week (Apri1 13-21).
The premise behind Good Turn Week is simple - perform a simple act of kindness for someone without expecting anything in return. The idea is that the recipient of kindness will then turn around and pay it forward, encouraging a chain of goodwill. Local Scouts will be among more than 100,000 Scouts across Canada this week who will pass along special Good Turn bracelets each time they act kindly to others this week. This good spirit is supported by Innisfail town council which proclaimed this week Good Turn Week in Innisfail at its regular meeting on March 25.
On behalf of Scouts Canada, Harris/Decima conducted a survey that found 51 per cent Canadians are recipients of good turns once a month. Twenty-eight per cent of those surveyed were recipients of kindness at least twice a week. Scouts Canada said it shows that Canadians live up to their international reputation for kindness but there's room for improvement. That's why they are challenging everyone to perform at least one or two acts of kindness this week. They say the possibilities are endless, from giving up a seat on the bus, to picking up groceries for an elderly neighbour.
Working at a newspaper, it's sometimes easy to overlook all the good things people do for others. That's probably because a lot of what we do includes reporting on crime, car accidents, fires and sometimes deaths. Many people come to us when they feel they've been wronged, but not so much when they've been helped. But this week we are reminded that many people often do good turns for others without the expectation of anything in return, like the 41 per cent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who perform good deeds daily.
Scouts Canada is getting the message out through an interactive website at scouts.ca/goodturn. This is where you can view what people have done for others through good deeds submitted by text and social media. These stories will remind us that good news happens.
Next week is a time for recognition. That is when we will recognize our local volunteers in conjunction with National Volunteer Week (April 21 - 27).
