Tis the season for acts of charity, and if you find yourself in a drive-thru line, you may get roped into a “pay it forward” chain. The person in front of you paid for your order, you’re told. And if you feel awkward or guilty — after all, you placed your order, so you know you have the money — you can just pay for the car behind you and now it’s their problem.

Fortunately, there’s a way to break the chain without being a jerk.

A single morning commute is enough time to gather a thousand seething resentments. People shove you, they litter, they smoke while blocking the footpath. By the time you show up at the office, you might be in full Rorschach-from-Watchmen mode. Instead, fill yourself with the cleansing fire of a kind act.

I knew even before I had a daughter that I was going to raise her to laugh in the face of sexist stereotypes, to be whoever she wanted to be and to do her part in keeping the world safe for others to do the same. And then we got the ultrasound and it turned out I was having a boy.

Children are listening. Messages of hate, fear and intolerance are often propagated across different media and into communities. While parents view and listen to these ever-present messages, alongside them are their children, hearing these same messages through a lens ill-equipped to discern the implications of negative stereotypes and incorrect portrayals.