We're on the lookout for good news, too

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last week when an editor announced The Seattle Times would be running a story about anonymous acts of kindness, one staffer quipped, "Part 2 will be senseless acts of cruelty."

Readers who complain there isn't enough good news in the paper might suspect that wasn't a joke. The truth is we hope there will be a Part 2, a positive one, but it will require your help. That's why I'm alerting you to the "kindness" story that will be in The Times on Tuesday.

Features editor Shirleen Holt came up with the idea while reading the "Rants and Raves" feature in the Northwest Life section of The Times. We invite readers to sound off about something they've experienced that they feel is worth commenting on, either as a positive (rave) or negative (rant), and their submissions make up the column.

"I just noticed that a lot of raves involved people doing something nice for strangers — buying the person behind them a latte, giving a hospital volunteer a box of chocolates. One man even rescued an injured cat and paid the vet bill," Holt said. "People have always been generous here, but I wondered if it was happening more, perhaps inspired by those 'Practice Random Acts of Kindness' bumper stickers and the whole pay-it-forward sentiment."

Times reporter Jack Broom took the assignment. "It seemed there were enough of these that, together, they said something about an unseen current of positive, kind acts going on in the community. We do try to look for the good in the community and call readers' attention to it when we can. That's sometimes hard to do when the anonymous nature of these acts is a fundamental component of their identity — and when perhaps no single one of them might strike us as 'news,' " he said.

Working from reader submissions, Broom was able to pull together a wonderful list of examples that make for an uplifting story. "The bottom-line reason for doing the story, I believe, is that calling readers' attention to ordinary kind acts like these gives them a more complete understanding of the community in which they live," he said.

Holt said we don't know what inspires these acts of kindness because the people who wrote in were the recipients, not the givers. "But it does appear that kind gestures do have a viral effect: Those who were treated to a gift invariably wanted to treat someone else. How Seattle is that? It's a perfect subject for Northwest Life, whose focus is 'how we live.' And this is a sweet, quiet corner of how we live."

That's where you and Part 2 come in. Tell us more about your experiences by sending an e-mail to talktous@seattletimes.com.

A few weeks ago I wrote about "hidden treasures" in The Times, which I described as items that appear regularly but might not be noticed by readers who don't turn to every page every day. A reader reminded me of one I missed and that fits nicely with the theme of kind acts.

It's called "Good Deeds: Everyday actions that inspire us," and it appears most Saturdays on the Faith and Values page. (You do know The Times has a Faith and Values page every Saturday, right? If not, consider that another hidden treasure.)

If you've been inspired or helped by a good deed, send us a brief explanation with your name and daytime phone number so we can contact you before publication. Send e-mail to gooddeeds@seattletimes.com or mail to Suesan Whitney Henderson at The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.

Want to do a good deed?

You can help the Newspapers In Education (NIE) program, which provides newspapers for classrooms in the greater Puget Sound area. The main source of funding for sponsored newspapers is the Vacation Donation Program.

Each time a subscriber goes on vacation, he or she can choose to donate newspaper delivery to NIE rather than put the subscription on hold. The money that would have gone for delivery then goes to provide newspapers in schools in the upcoming school quarter.

When you call 206-464-2121 to temporarily stop delivery of the newspaper, say you want to donate your papers to NIE. Or, go online and click on "home delivery," then click on "temporary stops."

Some 3.9 million Times newspapers were delivered to schools in the past school year, and subscribers paid for almost 2.2 million of those through vacation donations.

Our NIE people say studies have shown that schools with regular classroom exposure to newspapers scored higher on reading and math in standardized tests by an 11 to 13 percent margin. By providing a breadth and depth of articles on myriad subjects, newspapers increase students' base knowledge for those subjects, thus preparing them for any new information.

Inside The Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists