By Kasandra Bracken

In the last twenty-four hours, have you held the door open for a stranger? Tapped the shoulder of someone who dropped his or her glove on the subway? Placed a toonie in a homeless person’s hand? If you answered yes to all three, well, you could do better. In a recent Harris/Decima poll, sixty per cent of Canadians said that, as a country, we’re still “not kind enough.” Yet, in the same survey, thirty-seven per cent said they’d done a good deed for a strangers within the last day. In a country where strangers apologize profusely for ever-so-gently brushing shoulders on the street, we still think we should up the ante. Of course, the poll was commissioned by Maxwell House, conveniently timed with their “Brew Some Good Week,” where they catch random acts of kindness on the street and reward them with TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! Er…two coffee coupons. But still, sixty per cent? We hope those surveyed knew that claiming to be “nice enough” didn’t fall into the unkind/rude category. It’s just the way we are.