What if 143 Day became America’s national kindness holiday?

Photo above by Sebastián León Prado via Unsplash.

Whether we’re celebrating Kidsburgh Kind Kids, chronicling Kindness in Action, sharing the message of a mother and son helping kids be kind to peers with disabilities, helping schools and families connect more deeply, or telling so many other stories about the many ways kindness makes Pittsburgh a special place, we see the impact that acts of kindness can make on our community every day.

So the Kidsburgh team was excited to see this article in Time Magazine last week proposing that the Mister Rogers-inspired 143 Day, currently celebrated across Pennsylvania, become a national holiday.

Imagine one full day each year when people of all ages throughout the country focused on finding ways to be a kind and helpful neighbor. What would that day be like? And what ongoing kindness might it inspire?

“Making 143 Day national would do more than foster nice feelings,” write Ryan Rydzweski and Gregg Behr, co-authors of “When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids,” in this Time Magazine op-ed.

“According to data from the Pew Research Center, nearly 90 percent of Americans think it’s possible to improve our confidence in one another,” Behr and Rydzewski explain. “Their prescription, it turns out, is a simple one: neighborliness. As one young woman told pollsters, “Get to know your local community. Take small steps towards improving daily life, even if it’s just a trash pick-up. If people feel engaged with their environment and with each other, and they can work together even in a small way, I think that builds a foundation for working together on more weighty issues.”

We totally agree. And we’d love to see 143 Day become a holiday that all Americans look forward to each year.

Read the full article right here and join the conversation about making the Pittsburgh-born celebration of 143 Day into a national holiday.