Brandeis recently held its first---and hopefully annual-Kindness Day. It was meant to be a day filled with exciting activities and events geared toward, well, kindness.

But I think there might be some issues with the day that ought to be dealt with in the most serious of manners.

I had been eagerly anticipating this sure-to-be-epic day in the University's history. But because of an incredibly unfortunate, failed attempt at kindness on my part, I am sorry to say that Kindness Day 2010 left me feeling quite bitter about the state of kindness at this university.

It all started around 2 p.m. on Friday, when I headed over to the Provisions on Demand Market to buy a box of delicious cookies. I put a sign on the box of cookies that read, "Free cookies for kindness day!"

I highlighted it in yellow so that people would be sure to see it and then placed the cookies on the steps leading down to the mailroom.

I then waited in the International Lounge. I stared out the windows of the room, hoping-at times praying-that someone would take a cookie from my box.

Not a single person did. I attempted moving the location of the box of cookies several times. First to a variety of different stairs on the staircase, then resting on the banister and, finally, to a chair right at the top of the stairs.

Still, I had no luck. I sadly moped out of the International Lounge an hour later and brought the cookies back to my dormitory, where I put them in front of my room with the same sign.

Fortunately, half of the cookies eventually disappeared.

Nonetheless, I felt quite perturbed. Why do Brandeisians seem to feel more comfortable with taking cookies from someone who lives next door to them than from a box sitting on the stairs? Why can't we accept the kindness of complete strangers?

I would have expected that there are numerous people at this university who would not hesitate to take cookies from someone they do not know.

Free cookies are free cookies, no matter where they are placed.

Out of all days of the year, one would think that Kindness Day would be the easiest for people to practice and accept random acts of kindness. Sadly, this was not true for me.

One may say that I am putting far too much emphasis on one failed attempt at kindness. Overall, Kindness Day seemed like a big hit, and I am merely expressing the opinion of a small minority who did not reap its tremendous benefits. But if you ask me, this failed scheme of mine was systematic of deeper problems with Kindness Day. I have developed a few competing theories as to why my cookie scheme failed.

It is theoretically possible that people did not take my cookies because they were so absorbed with the events of Kindness Day. Distracted by all of the kindness going on around them, students and faculty just didn't have a keen eye for cookies on the stairs. Running from one activity to the next, eagerly participating in kindness, my relatively small contribution of a box of cookies was seemingly insignificant when compared with the grand activities of the day.

Alternatively, it is possible that people did notice my cookies and purposely chose to ignore them.

Despite the publication and hype about the day, people simply did not want to accept the kindness of others. This seems unlikely to me, though.

After all, we live in a very warm and accepting community that is filled with kindness lovers. Kindness Day seems all too Brandeisian.

Perhaps my failure is rooted in the fact that the University just wasn't ready to experience the awesomeness that is Kindness Day. This day definitely took us by storm and probably left most of us without an idea of what to do with ourselves. Overwhelmed with acts of kindness, it is possible that the University experienced a kindness overload that resulted in an ultimate lack of receptivity to kindness.

Or, finally, it is possible that Kindness Day was simply unnecessary. Students at this university already know how to be kind to one another, and the creation of a day built for kindness is an unneeded waste of time and money.

While we may not know how to take each other's free cookies, we still will always hold the door for one another and practice other similar acts of kindness.

This all being said, Kindness Day 2011 can still be a huge success. But it won't be without careful planning. I propose the immediate creation of an ad hoc Student Kindness Day Committee and an ad hoc Faculty Kindness Advisory Committee to the Student Kindness Day committee.

These two committees would work closely together, investigating the policies that were involved in creating Kindness Day this year. They will analyze the successes and the failures of the day.

I am sure the committee will find that I am not the only one who experienced a failed attempt at kindness.

The committees will hopefully produce a lengthy joint report to be distributed to the Brandeis community no later than spring 2011.

It is my hope that no one will ever have to experience failed attempts at kindness at this university.

It's time to move forward and gear up for Kindness Day 2011.