海角大神

Today's edition looks at how Russia sees the post-Soviet world order, why the left doesn't trust Joe Biden, the lockdown's lessons for climate change, what a war zone teaches about life during a pandemic, and poetry's calming voice.听

But first, a look at what a little kindness can achieve.

The idea is just oh-so-Italian. Pay for your coffee now and drink it later. Caff猫 sospeso 鈥� suspended coffee 鈥撀爐he Italians call it. Only, a grocery store owner in Rome has recently come up with an even better idea: suspended shopping.

Customers at Michela Buccilli鈥檚 small shop can pay ahead for groceries, with a twist: They鈥檙e paying for those who can鈥檛 afford it. Half of Italian workers are out of a job because of coronavirus restrictions. So Ms. Buccilli often adds a little extra. One customer bought a kilogram of oranges for a needy family; Ms. Buccilli gave an entire crate, .

Worldwide, the coronavirus is revealing the bedrock of kindness in human nature, as we鈥檝e highlighted in so many of these Monitor Daily intros. But it is equally important to recognize that these acts aren鈥檛 simply fleeting moments. They can be transformational.

At a time when so much public discourse is entrenched and antagonistic, research shows that kindness is the most effective solvent. 鈥淒efensiveness fades away,鈥� and thinking 鈥渁bout the 鈥榖igger things鈥� makes us forget ourselves, to an extent,鈥� notes about a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That can be writing a thank you note 鈥� or doing a little 鈥渟uspended shopping.鈥� Such attitudes, the study鈥檚 author says, 鈥渁re a really powerful force of change.鈥�