Making the unusual, usual

Part of the Decency Project is to remind us all that we can be "decent" in a multitude of ways in every day moments. Sometimes it may take a second thought to realize the opportunity for decency to happen. I am still shocked and amazed when I hear stories of people taking time out of their lives to help others. But why I am so shocked and amazed? Shouldn't this be something that I recognize as instinctual compassion and should come naturally to me?

A couple years ago, my friend and I attended a street festival with live music. We spotted our favorite Korean taco food truck and they were about to close up for the night. My friend and I luckily persuaded them to let us make the last order. As we anxiously awaited our delicious food, a homeless man approached us and asked for food. I'll admit that my immediate response was "No, sorry".  But my friend's immediate response was to pay for our food and pass his food directly to this homeless man, patted him on the back and said "have a good night." I didn't know how to react. I was struck by guilt for not wanting to give my food to this person and amazement at how quickly my friend responded.  And when I asked my friend what made him decide to give his food to this man, my friend said "I can go home and buy more food. That man may not be able to." And to top it off, when I offered my friend my food, he refused. This is just one story of a friend touching my heart with their compassion and decency.

In November 2012 in New York City, an NYPD cop bought a pair of socks and shoes to give to a homeless man because he was barefoot on a very cold night.

Many people in NYC were touched by this act of compassion and hopefully, it spurred others to participate in more acts of decency. These two acts are just two examples of decency which should be usual to us but unfortunately, are unusual to us.

What are some acts of decency you have participated in? Share with us your ideas on how to spread decency to others. Let's make decency something that is commonplace and an instinctual reaction. 

Welcome to the Decency Project

Lately, it's becoming very easy to be cynical in this world. It's getting easier and easier to believe, with a few exceptions, that the world is an indecent place filled with indecent people doing indecent things.

Maybe it's always been this way, or maybe we're just more aware of how the world works as we get older. The world seemed like a more decent place when we were kids, right? There just seems to be less role models, less institutions and less ideas to be inspired by. And the result? People looking out for themselves and their close friends and family, becoming insular, and losing faith in others.

Or possibly, the information that we get is designed only to deliver the worst of who we are: dangers, suspicions, atrocities, hate, pain, etc. In fact, there is evidence that shows that there are as much as 17 negative news reports for every one good news report. Our brains, as it turns out, are more receptive to dramatic and negative events to ensure our survival.

But sometimes we want to do more than survive. Sometimes we want to be reminded of the amazing things we do for one another everyday. We want to be reminded that the world is a decent place, filled with decent people doing decent things. We want to believe and be inspired, to show love to our fellow man, and to reach out to help those in need or to delight those whose day has turned dark.

Therefore, we've started the Decency Project, a place where we showcase our contributions of decency to the world through planned and unplanned acts of decency.


I'd define "decency" as an act that surprises and delights people in it's unexpectedness, it's novelty and it's utter lack of a need for reciprocity.

The idea came for this blog came from this powerful video:

Help us make the world a more decent place by showing us how you've made the world more decent through your acts, or submit ideas on what we can do for people!