The Kindness Experiment

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The Kindness Experiment: Good Samaritans

Good Samaritans

BBC Radio 4 - The Kindness Experiment, Good Samaritans

A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers.

Ella Scotland Waters tries to spread kindness throughout her part of Bristol.

Has the pandemic made us kinder?  Many people report an increased feeling of connection and kindness towards the people in their neighbourhoods since we began to be locked down last year.  Today Ella meets Simon and Sarah who've become friends over the last year. Architect Simon signed up as an NHS Volunteer last Spring and has been shopping and collecting medication for Sarah who has been shielding.  Simon says he has been surrounded by kindness all of his life so it's instinctive for him to want to be kind to others.  He's less keen on being labelled 'kind' though but admits that helping other people enriches his life.  Could he be an example of the concept of eudemonia, the Ancient Greek idea of living well through altruism?

Earlier in the week  Ella set out to find a young man who'd stopped for her when she was upset in a park. She wants to repay his kindness.  She remembers he said he worked on a building site so she goes there to thank him and to talk to him about kindness

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio, Bristol

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Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers

Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers and the generosity of the human spirit. And, guess what? Kindness is catching.

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