Something little for every day

Although I’ve heard a variety of wise words from different people throughout my life, I believe that the Japanese phrase, “一日一善 [ichi nichi ichi zen]”, which translates to “one day, one good,” has stuck with me and affected my life the most. This is a phrase my parents have always told me since I was little, and it means people should strive to do at least one good thing every day. Every day, I would aim to do a good deed, whether it was opening the door for someone, complimenting people, picking up litter, or anything else to help someone out.

As I grew older, this phrase became something that I think about every day, which has made it a natural habit for me to do good deeds for others. In fact, I have come to enjoy these kinds of actions because of the feeling of being appreciated by others. Back in seventh grade, one of my new classmates was having issues with their computer, which I had similarly had in the past. After class, I went up to them and helped solve their issue, and after that, I didn’t really interact with this classmate until we were put into the same group the next semester. By then, I had completely forgotten that I had helped them, but they still remembered. To some people, that might not mean a lot, but to me, the feeling of recognition and appreciation made me feel genuinely valued. Additionally, sometimes when I do something good, people will give me a smile along with a “thank you”, which makes me happy – whether it’s from a family member, friend, classmate, teacher, or even a stranger.

When I was little, I always wondered why the bar for the phrase was so low. The one good deed I’m doing isn’t anything big like solving world hunger or global warming, so shouldn’t I strive to do more? However, over time, I’ve learned two key points as to why the bar is low. The first thing I learned is that sometimes it is actually hard to do even just one good deed. Imagine having a fever of 102℉, and you’re in bed feeling like crap. It wouldn’t be very easy to get yourself to do something good, even if it’s just one thing. You might think there really isn’t anything you can do, but there’s always stuff you could do if you really thought about it. For example, you could help the planet by minimizing your electricity usage and sleeping, or make sure to use separate towels from your family to prevent the transmission of germs. This leads me to my second point: just because an action is simple doesn’t mean it is worth less. Going back to the fever example, if you were in that scenario and someone brought you a nice cold bottle of water, wouldn’t that make you feel a lot better? From their perspective, they simply brought you a bottle of water, but it feels like a gift from heaven for someone in the immense heat. Thinking this way has made me realize that the phrase is not about how life-changing or often you do something good; it’s about the daily mindset that your kindness, even if it’s something so tiny from a universal scale, can still have a huge impact.

Writing this essay, I felt as if I were talking about some perfect, good-deed robot. Be assured, I am definitely human (I pass most captchas) and am far from perfect. There are plenty of days when I wake up and don’t feel the Mr. Nice Guy in me. But on those days, I’m the one missing out on the joy from doing good. Even in the future, I hope to continue living with this credo in mind. Someday I might be able to solve the world’s problems. But for now, giving out water bottles sounds just as nice.