Lots of good stories collected from that past week at reunion (Erie Beach). Much processing to be done.
But I can tell you about a "secret" group of senior high age girls who formed a Conspiracy of Kindness. Their objective was to affect the tone of the reunion by committing random acts of kindness, anonymously, in the hope that others would feel good, and potentially become kinder themselves.
From my perspective it really worked! The mood of the attendees, adults and children, became noticeably more upbeat. Children ran to get chairs for seniors; youth handed open songbooks to latecomers; lunch trays and empty dinner dishes were swooped out from under us with expressions of "let me take that for you."
Better than that, one heard once-cynical adults commenting on the many good kids and expressing genuine hope and optimism for the future!
This is a very good word!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I love this story ... random acts of kindness. Even if it starts out being very intentional and deliberate, perhaps it can become a way of life, natural, done without thought. Wouldn't that be great?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't just the youth that could benefit from this practice. I have witnessed the stinging barbs of seniors criticizing our youth for simply being children and doing what children do. Don't they realize how vulnerable they are, how hard they're trying to win approval from the adults? Do they not see how damaging their criticism can be to the self-esteem of our children? I think we should encourage this concept among the adults too. We could be so much kinder than we often are.
Thank you Marion for this post. I am a firm believer in random acts of kindness and in paying it forward. If everyone did just one small thing daily, before we know it, this will become the norm. And in the previous comment, I agree that many times the criticisms that our younger people are hearing are not thought through before being articulated. Hearing a child ask a question loudly during a service should not be seen as an interruption, but as an opportunity to engage them further. At least they are curious.
ReplyDelete