As a fundraiser our school is having a "Random Act of Kindness-a-thon."It is run exactly like any Walk/Read/Choose Your Activity -a-thon. You collect sponsors that pay for each Random Act of Kindness a child does.

The directions aren't clear, but it would appear that you can accept acts brought to your attention by a child. It is left to the discretion of the adult "signing off" when accepting the act whether it was a bonafide random act of kindness or not.

There will be prizes in each grade for most money earned, most random acts of kindness, most sponsors, most hours devoted to kindness and a "bottom from your heart award."

I'm beside myself because, especially at this time of year, we're now:

• Putting a dollar amount on kindness, which is supposed to be intrinsically from the heart


• Making kindness, a totally subjective matter, a competitive sport


• Encouraging children to be kind because the ulterior motive is money and winning a prize benefiting one's self


• The whole random thing goes out the window because now the acts of kindness are orchestrated.

Am I wrong here?

I have to agree with you. Is it too late to change to another fundraiser?