I have always liked Steve Hartman’s Kindness 101 on CBS. I love watching him, usually with his children, sharing values as kindness, respect, patience. He even has lesson plans for teachers to use his videos and lovely ideas.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about Kindness 101. I
mean, we live with 101 lakes, so why not have 101 ways of teaching, not just
our children, but ourselves about kindness? I do want to say before I begin
that I write this as much for myself as
you. Of course, I cannot get 101 thoughts in one small column. If you
would like to send me some of your ideas, I would love to hear them and share
them!
Some of these are very small tokens of kindness and
gratitude, others are larger. I want to chat first about kindness while
driving. I love it when you stop and let Lola, my old red Jeep, and me pull out
of a side street or a parking spot. I am always so worried you won’t see me
waving away so I always put my window down and wave voraciously as I thank you.
Thank you. I also return the favor whenever I can. And please don’t forget to
pull over for all emergency vehicles. They need the space to get on the scene
as soon as possible, and always pull over for funeral processions.
This next gesture is one I have to keep in mind myself.
We all fill the blessing boxes around the holidays. Yes, we do. We think about
giving during that time of year. But, folks, people are still hungry when it is
not the holidays. It is so easy to fill an extra bag every time you head to the
store. I know prices are up a bit but let us be grateful for what we have and
take a few of our coins to help out others. There are blessing boxes all over
our area. Let us fill them up!
Shopping small is always at the top of my list. We love
our small towns, which is the very reason I live here. I cannot imagine living
anywhere else, and that is why I try my absolute best to put my coins into the
coffers of our small businesses from our lovely theatre to restaurants to other
shops. We have the most beautiful theatre, and it is our responsibility to
attend. I love meeting friends at the Brokaw. They even offer free movies for
Trine students on Thursday nights and offer a senior citizen movie once a
month. As for restaurants, it is amazing how many local eateries we have in
this town. Go there…tell them you appreciate them…share it with your friends.
Let’s talk about volunteering. There are so many
opportunities. Do you love reading to children? I am sure your child’s teacher
would love to have you help out in the classroom. Or choose to volunteer at the
places you love. Humane shelter? Music programs? Theatre programs? Highway
clean-up? Well, I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
There are many simple things we can do. Let someone go
ahead of you at the grocery. Someone with a few items or a child that needs
attending. Help them out. And always, always put your cart away! Thank the
person who keeps the bathrooms clean at the airport or your school or business.
Or pay it forward any way you can. In the drive-through, in a store. Do we even
have any idea on how that could change someone’s day?
On your own home front, let’s expand our gardens! Plant
flowers to beautify your neighborhood. Bake cookies or bread and fill jam jars
with last year’s bounty and give away. Put books out for children in your
little library. Talk to children as they walk past your house on their way to
school.
I have barely touched the surface of Kindness 101. I know
we can think of 101 things to do to make our world a better place. Start a list
and add to it every day and see how many of those things you can do. I will do
the same with my list.
If there was ever a time our world needs kindness, it is
now. I always think of our corner of this world as where the heartbeat is strong.
Our heartbeat can extend throughout the state, throughout the country,
throughout the world.
Why not?
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