By Linda Commito
“Kindness is my religion.” – Dalai Lama
I grew up in easier times. Although most of us never talked about kindness, we lived by the golden rule, treating others with respect and caring. It was a simple life where neighbors knew and helped each other, we were safe at home and at school, and we felt cared for, with a roof over our heads, enough food to eat, and someone to turn to in times of trouble.
Fast forward to today’s world where it’s sometimes difficult to feel positive and hopeful— especially after reading the daily news. We may want to run away from it all, but where can we find that place of hope? A few years ago when I asked this question at a dinner party, a man looked at me and simply pointed to his heart. Months later, in meditation, I clearly heard the words: “Love is the new currency.” That message sent me on a life-expanding journey to meet everyday people who were creating a better world through ordinary and sometimes extraordinary acts of love and kindness. The result was my book of the same name, Love Is the New Currency.
Some of the people whose stories I share in the book have done incredible things, including running directly into the barrel of a shotgun to save the life of a stranger and giving up a piece of a lung to someone who made the request in a local newspaper. I wish I could say that I would be so brave. But I have come to realize that we can each make a difference in our own unique way. In fact, most often it is the simplest things that people have said or done for us that have changed the focus or direction of our lives.
Over time, I decided that if I truly wanted to make a difference by getting a message of love and kindness out into the world I needed to take it up a notch, and where better to start than with children? I had already been working as a part-time volunteer at Alta Vista Elementary School, a title one school in Sarasota, Florida. Here was a perfect opportunity to do more.
Many of the students at Alta Vista come from diverse cultures and backgrounds and have multiple challenges, yet I found them to be engaging and open to learning. I proposed doing a kindness project at the school, where Principal Dr. Barbara Shirley and Assistant Principal Dehea Smith had worked hard to foster an environment that emphasized the qualities of caring, responsibility, trust, honesty and family. We called the project Kindness Starts with Me.
Kindness Starts With Me
“What does kindness look like? How are you kind at home and at school?” I asked some students sitting in a circle on the floor, hands waving as they eagerly offered to share what they were doing to be kind.
“Kindness is helping someone to sound out words that they don’t know,” said one student. Others offered: “Kindness is not calling someone names.” “I am kind when I let someone use my eraser, or give someone a pencil.” “Kindness is inviting a new student to play at recess” or “Helping someone with a broken arm to carry their tray.” At home: “I am kind when I share my toys or read to my little sister,” or “I am kind when I help my mom to cook.”
“What about kindness to animals?” I asked. Many had pets at home and loved talking about them.
“I am kind when I play ball with my dog” or “…When I feed my hamster.”
But most of the kids were stumped when asked, “How are you kind to yourself?”
So many of us, even adults, have a difficult time finding ways to be kind to ourselves. When I noticed their blank faces, I reminded them that being kind to ourselves allows us to more easily be kind to others. The students decided that eating healthy foods, exercising, and talking nicely to yourself, even when you made mistakes, were all important ways to practice self-kindness.
As part of the project, Mrs. Colgan, the head of the media center, and I met with 500 students, one class at a time, over the course of five weeks. Each student was invited to create a “Kindness Portrait”—a picture of themselves being kind. Numerous volunteers had previously cut and glued colorful construction paper borders to frame the student’s artistic images. These profiles of kindness were then mounted to form “Kindness Quilts,” which were showcased in a month-long public exhibition at the Marie Selby Library. A celebration launch party to acknowledge the students was attended by over 140 people, including the mayor, school board member Caroline Zucker, and the principal, assistant principal and many teachers from Alta Vista Elementary. These creative, colorful profiles will be hung on the walls of the lab rooms and hallways of the school as reminders of the hundreds of ways to express kindness.
The Kindness Starts with Me program at Alta Vista Elementary School was a school-wide project that found expression not only in the “Kindness Quilts,” but also in smile cards that students filled out to acknowledge each other for the kind things they did. These cards, color-coded by class, were then put onto a large Kindness Tree” in the cafeteria where students could see how quickly and easily kindness could grow.
At a time when so much attention in the news has been focused on the detrimental effects of bullying, at Alta Vista daily acts of kindness are reinforced to inspire the students to become good citizens, but more importantly, to create a kinder, more loving, and accepting world.
According to Principal Dr. Barbara Shirley, “Our students have become noticeably kinder in their thought processes, and we’re seeing a higher level of respect and caring about what’s going on in their classrooms and in the school.”
Future Plans
I’ve noticed that passions often have a life of their own, and I am captivated by an ongoing flame. These children and this kindness project have made me feel much more hopeful and positive about the future and I am inspired to do more.
My goal now is to put together a kindness book for each child at Alta Vista and for each classroom and office—about 650 in all. Using the children’s own artwork, the students can feel proud of what they were a part of and helped to create. It will also offer an opportunity for them to share with their brothers, sisters, and friends the ways that they can create and live in a kinder world.
And coming soon will be a “Kindness Starts With Me” website where kids can read about hundreds of ways to be kind, whether in story form or in pictures. They can then make their own unique contributions by sharing their ideas, stories, and artwork.
Here is the best part: YOU can participate! There are numerous opportunities to help–contributing personal stories for children on ways to be kind, filming, puppet skits, sharing this information and website with others via the internet, liking us on facebook.com/kindnessstartswithme, sharing blog articles on kids’ kindness, or financially helping with the costs of the books and website. I intend to create a “crowd funding” opportunity to raise the money needed. Please consider how you can contribute. Go to these web sites www.loveisthenewcurrency.com or www.kindnessstartswithme.com to find out more.
Together we can create a better world by helping more children to walk a path of kindness.
Linda Commito, author, speaker, entrepreneur, teacher and consultant, is passionate about her vision to leave this world a kinder, more loving, and interconnected place. Read more at www.loveisthenewcurrency.com and sign up for a monthly uplifting newsletter and updates on “Kindness Starts With Me.” Like facebook.com/loveisthenewcurrency
[PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Alta Vista Elementary]