I'm About to Get Super Real....

My readers have voted that my next blog post should be about how to deal with change, and that is coming I promise, but all I can think about when I sit down to write is this photo.  

It breaks my heart. I’m so tired of seeing this. 

I promised you I would never be political and I promise that this won’t be about politics. 

This is a real problem and I’m not going to pretend I know the solution. I do feel pretty strongly that, like most major debates of this nature, the answer is someplace in the middle.  I am also pretty sure that no one action or law or policy or service is all that is needed. It’s likely a combination of all of the above. 

After 9/11, I had no idea how to explain mass tragedy to my 4 year old daughter. I just worried for her future generation. Now she is 21 and I still don’t know how to answer the question of why these things happen or how to make it better or how to explain it to her.  

There are evils in this world that I will never be able to understand.  I don’t have an evil heart so it is never going to make sense to me.

But when I look at our current society and behaviors, I see a serious epidemic that is a lack of kindness, understanding, common courtesy and respect for people.  In fact that is a large part of what inspired this journey for me. I don’t want to be a part of that epidemic. 

I won’t choose evil or hate or fear or blame. It doesn’t solve anything. 

Five years ago this month I made a status on Facebook that said this:

If everyone is yelling at each other and talking at once, then nobody is listening to each other. If no one is listening then no one can hear. And if no one can hear then no one can comprehend. If no one comprehends then no one understands. And if no one ever understands then nothing will ever get better. 

I guess maybe this is a bit about change. 

This isn’t about “thoughts and prayers and not taking action.”  It’s about changing the way we behave towards each other EVERY DAY.  We need to change the way we treat each other. We need to be more respectful. We need to be more kind.  This is an epidemic that I can get behind.

I’m not naive enough to think a few smiles and pleasantries will solve the world’s problems. But it certainly can’t hurt. It is definitely a step toward being able to have an actual conversation that can effect change. 

I saw an article about a little boy who was challenging people to do one act of kindness for every victim of last weekend’s tragedies in El Paso and Dayton.  Why stop there? The victims go far beyond those who were injured or lost their lives. There are families. There are first responders. There are friends. There’s a community.  It keeps going and going. So should the acts of kindness. 

If enough of us start living and breathing a kindness journey, maybe we can inspire others.  Like I said, I can’t pretend that I have the answers. But I can certainly inspire others. And they can inspire more people.  And together we can inspire the world. And then maybe we can start to get someplace.

In the next few weeks, I’m going to launch a campaign that I call #CatchingKindness.  I’m developing some tools that you can use to be a part of this message and help change the world through one “Random Act of Smiles” at a time.

I want to start a new epidemic.  So tell me, are you with me?