Sitting in the dark, snuggled under a blanket, cupping a mug of coffee, I tried to muster enough gumption to go outside and run. Or to be honest, I may have been looking for an excuse to go back to bed.

Bailey the dog was no help for the latter. She was looking at me hopefully, telegraphing her desire to venture out. Looking for an ally, I enlisted the help of our smart speaker.

“Hey, Google, what’s the temperature outside?”

The speaker intoned, “In Saranac Lake, it is 34 degrees.”

“Oh Bailey, it’s cold out,” I complained.

Really, mom? In a month you’ll think that’s warm. Bailey’s eyes said it all.

Next strategy. “Hey Google, when does the sun rise?”

“The sun will rise at 7:18 a.m.”

See mom, it will be up by the time we get back. Let’s go!

“Hey, Google when will the sun set?”

The answer was less than 11 hours. Winter is indeed coming. Maybe I’d get out later.

Mom, you may think that you’ll run after work, but you and I know that won’t happen.

Then came the Hail Mary pass, “Hey Google, what is the meaning of life?”

“According to the 1989 Movie ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,’ the meaning of life is to be excellent to each other.”

Gee, mom, after you stop laughing, it would be truly excellent if we went running right now.

Bailey won, but as we ran, I thought a lot about the movie. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” follows two slackers with a time machine as they meet historical figures — who are then coerced into coming to the future to help the teens pass their final high school test. While the movie displays the sense of humor of a middle school boy, it is also most triumphant, bodacious and strangely intelligent.

Being excellent to each other seems a bit hard to grasp these days, between social media and international news, we are barraged with the tragic and terrible. But as I tell my kids, “Look for a yellow car, and you’ll find a yellow car.” So, I decided to watch for people being kind to each other.

It turns out that finding goodness was easier than I thought. According to a psychological study by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin William, 50% of people have a predominant Light Triad forming their personalities, while only 7% have their heinous antithesis: the Dark Triad. What forms the foundation of a Light Triad? Faith in humanity, believing in the worth of individuals and adherence to a universal moral code. The best news is that, while personality traits are on a continuum, the average person is far more light than dark. Simply put, the world is full of good people. As my brother observed the other day, “Most people want to do the right thing, they just don’t always know what it is.”

In our area, we have food pantries, the Grace Pantry, community lunches and Holiday Helpers. There are Facebook groups offering advice, help, and items for free. Found items are posted, so they may be returned to their owners. We want to be helpful and see others succeed. It is who we are.

On a more individual level, I watched a high school teacher take a walk with a student, truly listening as they wandered. A few days later, I overheard that same student guiding freshmen to make good choices. A chain reaction of kindness, which began without intention, but is now blossoming into so much more.

In a long checkout line, I watched as total strangers found an elderly lady a place to sit down, then took her items and payment to the cashier so she could rest. They did it so discreetly that most people didn’t notice, and the woman’s pride remained intact.

Were there thousands more local acts of kindness this week? I’m sure of it. But other than inherent goodness, why bother? According to research presented on the National Institute of Health website, when you perform kind acts for others, you become happier. Good deeds beget good deeds, and the payoff is joy.

As ridiculous as their characters were, Bill and Ted were on to something. During the climax of the movie Abraham Lincoln concludes a take-off of the Gettysburg Address by pronouncing, “Be excellent to each other … and party on, dudes.”

Most outstanding advice. May you take it and have a bodacious day.