As American politics emerges into a sea of ugliness, who would have the audacity to think that a simple act of kindness can reunite the citizens of our country?
Recently, when a colleague asked me to participate as a judge in the Buena Park Lions Club youth speaking contest, I jumped at the chance to hear what is on the minds of the next generation’s leaders.
Given today’s headlines and current events, I was even more curious when I learned the topic would be “How can kindness reunite America?” Given the harshness of our politics, and the intent of some to discredit the media, demonize those with opposing beliefs and generally seek to divide us, such a topic seemed curiously incongruent.
Yet I was prepared, in fact, eager, to listen. The three finalists, all young women, two of whom were too young to drive, were asked to deliver eight full minutes of narrative speaking, without notes.
For the next half hour, along with the other judges, we listened intently as each delivered their respective cases for how they believed the power of kindness could reunite America.
What I heard, in fact, moved me to the point that I resolved to write a column about “kindness” and announced it to the crowd of Lions and well-wishers.
As I began to write from my notes, however, I realized that, while I could do them justice, perhaps, by reporting on what they said, I thought it better to let them speak for themselves.
Therefore, I asked the young speakers and the Lions Club for permission to reprint their insightful work. For each of the next three weeks, the ENE will feature the youthful essays of the top three speakers.
Admittedly, however, the written word cannot fully capture the power of each girl’s individual style of delivery and cannot depict the way they engaged the audience or how they used intonation to make certain points.
Yet the words themselves do indeed have a message that I hope will be of interest to our readers.
Can kindness really reunite America? It is indeed worth considering.
Here is a reprint, in essay form, of the winner’s speech, delivered like a pro and delivering a powerful message from a generation to come.
Let kindness reunite America?
By Audrey Vinci, 10th-grade student
In February 2007, a campaign was launched to help thousands of people across America. A corporation worth nearly 50 billion dollars, devoted millions of its funds to improve people’s lives through small acts of kindness. From filling potholes in low-income community roads to donating to food banks, to paying for ramps to help the disabled, the Helpful Honda Person is a wildly successful representation of kindness and your modern good Samaritan.
Honda’s official purpose of its “Helpful Honda Person” campaign was to create a social movement to inspire others to come together and unite to do something helpful in their own community.
This is a microcosm of what we should all be doing as a country, society, and community of people. Helping each other through random acts of kindness – even if they are small.
The state of our country today is filled with loneliness, pain, suffering, and potentially more than anything else, division. While movements to fight social problems such as discrimination and systemic prejudices, have arisen, our country has never been more divided than it is today.
And we must ask ourselves, why?
If we are the UNITED States of America, “ONE nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for all,” why is it that we have never been more divided and disconnected from one another than we are now?
At the surface, it seems that the central cause for such a divide is political disputes. Democrats versus Republicans, liberals versus conservatives, both creating severe presumptions about the other and deciding that the opinions of those who disagree are not just different from us, but ignorant.
And from this belief that those who oppose you are ignorant, stems the unkindness which divides our country further.
In the words of President John F Kennedy, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
If we look at this issue from a more modern perspective, one of the main causes for their divide is the media. Whether it be CNN and FOX news, social media, or politically one-sided newspapers, the media is constantly putting divisive perspectives into the brains of millions.
The media creates two extremes of the political spectrum, Constructing a power struggle between two groups who should be united as one. Slicing our nation in two.
The media feeds us the belief that you can understand your neighbor based on 140 characters – the maximum amount of letters used in a comment or tweet, – a like on a post, or a share to their social media. We are told that everything there is to be understood about a person, can be found on the screens in front of us, rather than in the people themselves.
In order to heal our world with kindness, we need to fight the political divide that has been created in our country and stop the social media misinformation. We need to just accept everyone for who they are and come to a greater understanding of each other and finally become one under our country’s flag just as our founding fathers intended!
If only it were that easy.
The truth is, reuniting our country is a long-term process that will require our political leaders to take active steps to appeal to both political sides and stop the unnecessary divisive media stunts. And unfortunately, the decisions of our political leaders are something that we have less control over than we would like to admit.
But even if you are not a powerful political leader or some kind of heroic activist who makes the greatest change in American history and is remembered and written about in history textbooks, your small efforts to unite your own communities will not go unnoticed.
So what can we as individuals do to support unification in our own communities?
The first thing we can do to work towards a more kind and united society is unplug. Put down the screens, turn off the TV, and start looking around – because there are plenty of people who need you.
When we are absorbed in our screens, we are predisposed to plenty of divisive media that can feed the separation of our nation. Additionally, according to medical news today, social media is one of the causes of general negativity in our lives and increases self-absorption. Self- absorption is the preoccupation with one's own emotions, interests, or situation over all else.
One of the keys to reuniting our country is to be considerate of other people – remembering that our opinions are not universal and that everyone makes decisions based on personal experience.
In the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Only humility will lead us to unity, and unity will lead to peace.”
By limiting our time engrossed in the media, we can prevent severe self-absorption and take one step towards greater unity.
The second thing we must do is remember that it starts with us. One of the common misconceptions about change is that it must be national or incredibly large, and therefore those of us who are not in positions of power are simply not capable of making any change.
Too many people are under the impression that we are too small to make a change – “I am only one person. How could I possibly make a difference?”
This is an incredibly pessimistic way to view what we have to offer. If we can shift our view to a more optimistic perspective and acknowledge that “Even the small change I make is significant” then we can dedicate ourselves to being a change.
Once we make this realization and decision that small local actions can make a big difference, it’s time for us to MAKE THE CHANGE. There are so many opportunities to be kind and make change for the better in our communities.
Look specifically for things that support what you personally care about. By dedicating your time and efforts to altruism that is truly meaningful to you, you can find personal joy in your acts of kindness.
Is kindness towards animals important to you? Find a local animal shelter.
Do you feel called to help the poor and homeless? Volunteer at the homeless shelter.
Does the reunification of families matter to you? Support the child welfare cause.
I for one have hosted hygiene supply drives for the local women’s shelter in my school community as a way to support the women in my life who are less fortunate than myself.
If you yourself cannot create your own cause, look for projects hosted by your churches and neighborhood communities that you can contribute to. By actively supporting local causes that work towards the greater good, we can support kindness in our communities.
More so than this even, we should look for small ways in our daily lives to promote kindness towards those around us. In the words of Mister Fred Rogers, “there are three keys to success: the first way is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the third way is to be kind.”
Random Acts of Kindness .org is a foundation that is dedicated to promoting small ways in which we can be kind in our daily lives. From buying locally sourced products to support your local community vendors, to simply making respectful eye contact with the people around you, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a great source for any time you need an idea on how to do manageable good.
But, when we do these kind acts, we must remember that our kindness should extend to ALL people in our lives, not just those we agree with. Because we are not defined by our voting decisions, we are not the color of the party we support, we are not our political opinions: we are one nation united under a single flag.
You can be that “helpful Honda person” that modern-day good Samaritan, and ignite unity in your communities because small action can make a big difference. So let us put down the screens, consider how we can make a difference, and finally make the change and reunite our nation with kindness.
