As a cheerful, born optimist, my rationale is:

If you're going to have conversations with people, why not try to make it end with everyone feeling a bit bucked up and perky? It comes from an almost demented joy in being alive.

Two days ago, laid up with a seemingly broken foot bone, my friend Kameon sent her daughter, Chloe, with salad rolls from a Vietnamese restaurant. Chloe arrived with her friend, Meghan.

Inviting them in, I served the girls snacks. Showed them daughter Claire's wedding invitation. Claire and her fiance' Matt both loved the book, "Goodnight Moon," from their childhoods.

The girls were unfamiliar with "Goodnight Moon."

"I much prefer the joking book by parents, "Go to F--K to Sleep," I said, showing them the hilarious video of Morgan Freeman reading the book.

"The girls had a lot of fun with you!" Kameon said afterward.

My motivation is because I can and I think it is the right thing to do. I keep cash and a small bag of supplies in my car that I can hand out my window to people holding signs on street corners. I have no idea when the last time I did that was. Generally I try to be aware, and sometimes I see the opportunity.

By their nature they are random but probably behind them is just good people wanting to do good i think

If you are a caring, outgoing person, you do random acts of kindness a number of times daily. It is simply part of who you are. You don't tout the fact, and you don't keep tack of those things.