By Teh Jen Lee

IT has been said that no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

That's why the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) has rolled out an initiative to encourage Singaporeans to commit to practising acts of kindness in their everyday lives.

Launched on 18 Aug in conjunction with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech, where he issued a call to internalise good habits of social graciousness, it involves people pledging online the different ways that they will be kind.SKM council member Joey Chang said the online campaign was the brainchild of SKM's membership committee.

Good start

'We thought the online pledge would be a good place to start engaging people and getting their support for a more gracious Singapore.

'When they take time to think about their pledge and put it in writing, the process brings them closer to action,' he said.

In the two weeks since the launch, over 450 people have taken the kindness pledge.

Among them is salesman Darian Wee, 30, who submitted this pledge last Thursday: 'I pledge to be a kinder person and let it translate to something which our country, one with very little culture and identity of its own, and its people can be proud of.'

He knew about the online kindness pledge initiative via an e-mail that a friend forwarded to him.

When asked to elaborate on what his pledge means in practical terms, he said: 'I would like to treat people the way I hope to be treated. I spend a lot of time on the road - I will give way to people and ensure my indicators are on.'

He also aims to clear his tray after eating at fast food restaurants and let a shopper move forward in supermarket lines if he or she only has a few items to pay for.

He added: 'Kindness is something that we should strive to include when we do business or interact with family and friends.

'If it begins there, it would hopefully spread across our society and eventually define social norms to allow people to understand what kind of behaviour is acceptable and what is not.

'As hard as it sounds, I believe it is possible if everyone is willing to take some steps.

'We have to let the world know that Singapore is a kind country, not a 'fine country' like how foreigners perceive us,' he said.

Another person who took the pledge is senior librarian Zahra Aljunied, who is in her early 50s.

She said: 'I pledge to be kind, caring, understanding and helpful to others, especially not to take for granted those who are close to me.'

Easy to forget

She finds the last part of her pledge most difficult when it comes to her family members.

'It's common to forget to say 'please' and 'thank you' to them.

'The most difficult time to be nice is when I come home from work and I'm tired.

'But I want to work on asking my children to do things, rather than demanding it,' said the mother of three.

She thinks the online pledge initiative, which she learnt about from a colleague, is a good idea because it gets people to think of simple things that they can do on a sustained basis.

She said: 'It is better to do something small every day than to do one big thing and after that you forget about it.'

Pledges can be made online at this site: http://singaporekindness.org.sg/pledge.

This was first published in The New Paper on September 3, 2008.