It was originally posted about a week following a mass shooting in Isla Vista, May 23rd, 2014.
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It is Friday, May 30th, 8:48pm.
One week ago today, a mass murderer killed six people in a community I once called home. My friend, Sean Lieberman, and I had drinks this evening. He unfortunately had been closely touched by the events last week, as an employee of the school where these students attended, as someone who has extensive contact with student leaders, as a member of the community for twenty years.
Initially, what he was saying struck me, to be honest, as mild paranoia, before I realized what it really was, trauma. Very, very, very reasonable trauma. And then suddenly I realized he was just ONE person in a community of something like 25,000 people all of whom are equally traumatized, some far more so. All exposed. All raw. All in need of healing, something that cannot really be healed.
I personally am a positive person, but the randomness and horror is hard to fathom. I attract and keep company with positive people. Sean is a positive person. As our conversation came to a close I could see him search for positive. He came to the conclusion, “At least this will enact some positive change.”
It was the conclusion, but it did not comfort him. It did not comfort me. And there are 25,000 other people who are still spiritually hungry for more than, “At least this will enact some positive change.”
There are 25,000 people who need to be healed. Sean knows it. I know it. People in high levels of authority know it, no doubt students, alone in bed, at night know it.
How do you heal a community of 25,000 people?
How do you make sure it never happens again?
How can we encourage people kinder to one another?
In the powerful TED Talk by Shawn Anchor (https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work/transcript), the powerful effect of recalling something which made a person happy during the day, every day for 21 days, perhaps as they got ready for bed, had a startling effect on people’s outlook and happiness.
In another tangential leap, the Random Acts of Kindness bumper sticker came to mind.
Now, simply, merge the two.
Can we be encouraged, by remembering something kind we have done for another person during the day, not for acknowledgement, but merely for the purposing of recollecting the act of kindness, every day... can we be trained to be kinder?
Instead of legislating to enact change from above, can we actually encourage people to be kind, on an individual level, so legislating change is unnecessary?
Do you want to live in a kinder world?
Will you join me in an experiment?
What have you done today that was kind?
Pick up your phone.
Set an alarm for an hour before you generally go to bed, tomorrow, and to recur indefinitely.
Call the alarm, "The Kindness
When it goes off tomorrow: Stop. Think, “What did I do today that was kind?”
When it goes off the next day: Stop. Think, “What did I do today that was kind?”
When it goes off the day after that: Stop. Think, “What did I do today that was kind?”
Maybe this ten seconds a day will be a waste of time of your time.
What if it isn't?
What if we can make the world a kinder place?
What if you can make the world a kinder place?
Stupid: The horror that made this line of thought a reality. (Originally posted as a result of the May 23rd, 2014 Isla Vista Shooting Tragedy.
More Stupid: Reposted due to the Las Vegas Tragedy, October 1, 2017.
Cool: Just maybe, the world could be a better place.
1 comment:
I agree that stopping to reflect about what you personally are doing is an important step. Where it becomes powerful is when that reflection begins to change your actions. As humans who have to share our communities and our personal space with others, it only takes a few to begin modeling behaviors of kindness that can be contagious.
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