One of my favorites Christmas movies is Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. You might remember that George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) is down on his luck and just about ready to jump off a bridge on Christmas Eve when Clarence Odbody, George’s guardian angel (played by Henry Travers) jumps in ahead of George, knowing that George will save him. It’s then that Clarence shows George what life would look like in his little town of Bedford Falls if he had never existed. In fact, you might remember that Bedford Falls without George Bailey was not Bedford Falls anymore. It was renamed Pottersville for the greedy banker and real estate tycoon who had transformed the town into a red light district filled with saloons and brothels. People George had helped along the path of his life were left to a very different fate. Mr. Gower the pharmacist had been convicted of manslaughter for poisoning a customer, his Uncle Billy had gone insane when he lost the Bailey Savings and Loan, his brother Harry had died as a child when he fell through the ice and drowned in the river, and in the course of time, hundreds of U.S. soldiers died because Harry was not there during the war to save them… all because George Bailey had never existed.

The movie is a wonderful perspective on the influence one person has doing small acts of kindness during their lifetime. The culmination of these acts are what makes ones life worth living, so goes the storyline in the movie. Most of my articles have to do with my line of work: marketing. I suppose I could make some correlation between this movie and many small acts of marketing, but I will refrain. What I want to talk about is something that I find missing today: kindness. It seems to me that we have filled our lives with what we call "reality” to the point that we have lost any sensitivity to kindness. For instance, watch any "reality” TV show and you will find people who are being deceitful and rather hateful with each other in an attempt to get ahead. I suppose it makes good TV, but a rather poor society when we all act in our best interests all of the time.

I heard a statistic the other day that made me ponder where we are heading. It said that charitable giving is on a downward trend because a generation of the biggest givers to humanitarian causes have either retired or have died. There is a shift in wealth and the people to whom it is shifting don’t see a lot of value in giving to "good-hearted” causes. What I am talking about is not just about giving money to help someone in need, but also reaching out to give a hand. Your time and your expertise may be more valuable to someone than your money.

You may think that you don’t have anything to give to someone in need. I went to a conference on mentoring that challenged that thought, much like Clarence Odbody challenged the thinking of George Bailey. This business conference encouraged me to look for people who were coming behind me that needed some encouragement. That might be a student who is looking for a career path. That might be a displaced worker who needs to find a new career. That may be just showing kindness to people who are down on their luck. The conference speakers made a very strong suggestion (they made us all write this down) that we do some reaching outside of our little life bubble to find someone that we could touch with kindness. You know what I found? There are all kinds of opportunities to help people that cost me very little, but make a very big impact on their lives. So my encouragement to you is to find a way to do likewise. It is Christmastime. It’s easy to find people who need some encouragement this time of year. But look beyond December 25 in your quest. Make it a life habit. The world could use the reminder that it really is a wonderful life if we live it with a little kindness.