For the past few weeks, The Takeaway has been featuring stories of good deeds big and small from our listeners for our series America the Kind. So we’ve gathered them all together — plus some bonus stories you haven’t heard yet — in this special episode dedicated to kindness.
We connect acommuter from California with the thoughtful conductorwho brightens herday,andhearfrommiddle schoolers bringing undercover acts of kindnessto their classmates. There’s stories of kindness fromneighbors oldand new, kindness from strangers, and kindness givenduring hard times— sometimes all three.
Get inspired by the town whomade Christmas come almost two months earlyfor a grandmother whose cancer made her worried she couldn’t celebrate her favorite holiday while she still felt strong enough.
We also talk about the science of altruism, with Stanford psychology professorJamil Zaki, who explains whykindness is literally contagious, andJay Phelan, a biology professor at UCLA, who gives the evolutionary reason for why humans are nice.
And finally, you’ll learn how to be kind fromHeather Havrilesky, the writer behind the advice columnAsk Pollyand author of “What If This Were Enough?”
Do us a favor and listen — and be kind out there.
Click on the ‘Listen’ button above to hear this segment. Don’t have time to listen right now? Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with you on the go.
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