Over the summer I connected with JoAnne Duncan through Voxer. JoAnne is an assistant principal in Washington. Connecting with other educators across the globe is exciting to me. Little did I know how much this new friendship would grow and sprout new growth.
On Friday afternoon after a difficult day, I checked Facebook to find a video message for me (and others) from JoAnne. She was challenging us to join a kindness project, #welearnkindness. This project stems from the book Wonder by R. J. Palacio. JoAnne’s school is reading the book and raising awareness of bullying in new and innovative ways. One way is asking others to join the kindness challenge by taking 3 action steps in 24 hours.
The idea is to tag others on Facebook or Twitter to take on the challenge themselves. This is how phenomenons are started. Remember the ice bucket challenge?
On Monday, I did my three acts of kindness, but the planning started on Sunday. My husband added Swiss Rolls to his Walmart list so that I could treat one of my students for his birthday. I grabbed a bouquet of flowers on my grocery run, and I located a gift I had bought during the summer to give to a colleague.
When I arrived at my first school, I caught the assistant principal in the hallway and asked if I could take her breakfast duty. She was grateful and rushed to do whatever it is assistant principals have to do. (I’m sure her list was long.) While in the cafeteria, I talked with our French teacher whom I know little about and learned he is from Niger, Africa. We had a great conversation.
At school number 2, I handed my colleague her belated birthday gift. I had tagged her in the kindness challenge, and she brought me cookies. She also challenged other teachers in our school. I saw one carrying around candy treats to give to kids caught being kind. This kindness thing is spreading quickly.
At school number 3 where I am new this year, I brought fall flowers to a teacher across the hall who is helping me navigate this new-to-me place. She was more than thrilled. I think I made her cry. She will talk to me about those flowers every day this week, I’m sure.
But I am not writing about these acts of kindness to tell you how wonderful I am at being kind. I’m writing this post because of the way I felt all day on Monday.
Kindness buoyed me through my day.
Kindness lightened my heart and made me smile.
Kindness spreads like wildflowers on a spring wind.
Try it. I think you’ll find that being kind makes you a happier person all the way around.
What a great idea… I think we need to slow down and really be deliberate about the way we treat others. I wrote about this today as well. We need to celebrate the good and look beyond ourselves in this fast paced world we live in. Thank you for sharing!
Clare
Clare, we must’ve been reading each other’s posts at the same time. Cheers!
Actively seeking kind is an amazing feeling. It’s not surprising that JoAnne was the impetus for this!
I love the book Wonder and all of Mr. Brown’s precepts. As much as you “chose kind,” it’s clear that the benevolence brought you a joy as deep as any you must have given. It’s the stuff of life!
“It’s better to be kind than to be right.” A powerful line from Wonder. We use it with our own kids all the time. Just read “Each Kindness” to my fourth graders today as part of a lesson on Words of the Wiser. There can never be too much kindness. I love that you felt so lifted in your day and hope that it continues. Thanks for your post.
Margaret, you are already one of the kindest people I know. I am very unsurprised that you are stretching yourself to find ways to be even kinder. :>)