Remember back in the day when you would go outside of your home in the suburbs, wave to your neighbors and everyone looked out for each other to keep your community safe? Back then, random neighbors would physically stop by to say hi and were invited in for tea. Today, any knock on the door that is completely unexpected is a scary thing, and many women won’t even open the door for fear of what can happen if they do. Unknown phone calls were answered and not sent to voicemail. And now the viral attention and power from being hateful online is suddenly acceptable and even encouraged.
We are all on the defensive at all times for many legitimate reasons. If you are walking on the sidewalk and are getting ready to pass someone, the state of the world makes the interaction so uncertain and stressful. When this person passes, am I going to get yelled at for being a liberal because I have a latte in my hand? Is my child going to be abducted because I’m walking past a windowless van? So it is much easier to put my head down, pretend that the anxiety isn’t there and wait for the person to walk by. And then I feel terrible for having all those pre-conceived notions that every person in the world is against / out to get me.
Like always, social media has those accounts that can assure you that the world isn’t all bad. There has been a trend on social media that has been going on for a long time now, and it is impossible not to smile or happy cry from watching them. There are plenty of variations, but they all highlight the random acts of kindness that impacts the day of random strangers.
One of the most popular accounts on TikTok that beautifully exemplifies the impact of saying something nice to someone you don’t know is @lalalandkindcafe. At first glance, La La Land Kind Cafe is a TikTok account that exudes such infectious positivity and kindness. But digging a little deeper, this cafe with multiple locations all over Texas is doing so much more than making people smile. Their unique business model measures their success not just by revenue.
“We’re one company and we can’t do this alone. We hope to encourage you to be intentionally kind to everyone, even strangers. We hope to inspire other businesses to follow these values, making our world a better place.” – La La Land Kind Cafe
This amazing company goes above and beyond any other company that supports vital issues to the betterment of the country and shines a light on a vulnerable population that doesn’t get as much news coverage these days: The children of foster care and the lack of resources for when they age out of the system. La La Land Kind Cafe is taking matters into their own hands and created a program to be a supportive and loving transition that is needed after aging out of foster care.
Thank you, La La Land Kind Cafe, for bringing smiles and happy tears to millions of people all over the world through your videos that show how easy it is to make someone’s day. Their mission is clear, and is one that anyone can get on board with as the world navigates post-quarantine social interactions and the country’s polarizing hatred starts to cool down. Normalizing kindness is something that we can all do all year round on and off social media, and if more companies would create programs like theirs, the world most certainly would be a better place.
Click on the link / image below to see some of the videos on their TikTok account tiktok.com/@lalalandkindcafe
