People ask me why I always sign off with “kindness is cool, smiles are free.”
It’s not a slogan. It’s an inventory.
The little boy across the street who saw me fall — and got help.
Dr. Hughes and Dr Nye refused to amputate my arm when it would have been easier.
Dr. Nye, who became family.
The friends and strangers who showed up after the layoff, after the divorce, after every single fall — reaching out a hand when I couldn’t stand on my own.
The nurses and doctors who inspired me to become a firefighter and an EMT, so I could pass the kindness forward.
Every time gravity took me down, kindness picked me up.
Here’s what four decades of falling taught me:
You never know what the person in front of you is going through.
The man on the subway. The person who cut you off in traffic. The one two seats behind you, smiling like everything’s fine.
Everyone is carrying something.
So don’t judge people by their current circumstance. Reach out a hand instead.
Kindness costs nothing and changes everything.
Smiles break barriers words can’t.
And here’s the beautiful math of it:
When you help someone, you don’t just help them. You help everyone they’ll ever help.
Help more people help more people.
That’s the mission. That’s the whole newsletter. That’s my remaining years, spent on purpose.
So here’s your next step this week — and mine:
One act of kindness, on purpose, for a stranger. That’s it. That’s the system.
What’s the next step? Next.
Kindness is cool. Smiles are free.
I appreciate you.
— Russ
P.S. Know someone rebuilding after their own fall? Forward this to them. That counts as your act of kindness — and it helps this letter help more people.
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