Good-deed doers.

Back where I come from," the Wizard of Oz told the Tin Man, "there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila--eh, phil--um, yes, uh--good-deed-doers."

Call it what you like--good-deed doing, paying it forward, random acts of kindness--doing something nice for others is an idea whose time has come.

This occurred to me on a cold day in spring when my children and I were driving in the city. I stopped at an intersection and glanced casually to my left. Sitting on the road, not five feet from my car door, was a mouse. Sitting, mind you; not scampering as mice are apt to do, not even exhibiting mild consternation.

"There's a mouse on the road!" I exclaimed in astonishment.

"Dead?" Joshua winced in the back seat.

"No, just sitting there."

Before you could say Mickey Mouse, he was out of the car. Our city is not large. But even in a rural New England city you don't go stand in the middle of the road and hop around excitedly trying to figure out how to carry a wild mouse to safety So I did the only thing a mother could do. I jumped out and hopped around with him. Between us we managed to get the somewhat frosty looking creature into a plastic baggie.

Later, with Ralph Mouse comfort ably installed in snazzy new digs (i.e., Hotel Walker) eating rodent chow, Josh turned to me beaming with pride and said, "It's nice to do a kind deed for a small helpless animal. If we hadn't helped him, he'd be a pancake on the road right now instead of safe in a nice warm home." He was so right.

For Everyone

Doing good deeds for others be they small and furry or rich and powerful--is not an expensive proposition. It doesn't take loads of cash. More than anything else, it requires thought and attention. Attention, because if you're operating on autopilot, you'll miss the chance to offer kindness when it presents itself. Thought, because we're all given the chance to help others. If we don't make a conscious decision to offer that help, the opportunity may pass.

Being a good-deed doer is probably the best way to live the great commandment "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Life becomes more than being nice to someone only if they are nice to you. Instead, it's elevated to being nice to someone before they even have a chance to deserve it. It's like passing on a smile just for the fun of it.

Doing good deeds as you go about your day is important. But perhaps even more important is being proactive about good-deed doing. Generosity and good will toward others tend to flow easily at certain times of the year, particularly during the holiday season. But the disadvantaged must do without the rest of the time.

That Extra Mile

Else Prichard, a Seattle preschool teacher, found a way to help foster children in her area year-round by raising awareness of their needs. Else collected new clothing for foster kids and called her haul Gifts From the Heart. (1)

On his last day in Indonesia Pastor Doug Martin met a Muslim man with no legs and doggedly spent the remainder of his time hunting down a wheelchair. With the help of a Hindu taxicab driver the two men were shuttled from one place to the next. "Impossible," they were told again and again. In the end they were successful. (2)

Good deeds bring people together. It doesn't matter your nationality, creed, race, social standing, or language. Kindness is a language everyone understands.

(1) Candy Hatcher, "Puget Sound Journal: This Good Deed Is a Fitting Way to Help Children," Seattle Post Intelligencer, June 10, 2002, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/hatcher/73933_candy10.shtml.

(2) Doug Martin, "My Last Night in Indonesia," Adventist Review Online, www. adventistreview.org/2003-1537/story2.html.

Celeste perrino Walker writes from Rutland, Vermont.