PINK DAY

    
 Today is International Day of Pink. And it has nothing to do breast cancer. Wearing pink today is about encouraging tolerance and compassion in an effort to stop bullying. Why pink? Well it's a wonderful story and warrants re-telling, even if you've heard it before. The condensed version goes like this:

A grade nine student wore a pink polo shirt on his first day of high-school at Central Kings High School, in Cambridge, Nova Scotia. The significance of that simple fashion choice would have profound consequences that no one could have predicted. The young man, who has never been identified, was bullied mercilessly and threatened with a beating. But, two young men in grade 12, heard about the incident and responded with an attack of their own - Ghandi style. They went into town, bought every pink shirt they could find and then rallied as many friends as possible through Facebook. Hundreds of students came to school the next day in PINK. Needless to say, the bullying stopped. (the original story can be found here)

As a mother of a son who was the victim of a scandalous bullying incident, at FIVE years old, I cannot even express the emotion I feel when I think of this story. Such courage, such wisdom and such kindness......it's no wonder it inspired an international movement. Bullying is a cultural problem, and requires a cultural response. Pink day worked because there was strength in numbers, compassion, and empathy.

Equally inspiring is Lady Gaga's recently founded organization called, Born This Way: "The Foundation is dedicated to creating a safe community that helps connect young people with the skills and opportunities they need to build a braver, kinder world."

Their mission is based on three pillars: 

Safety: creating a safe place to celebrate individuality

Skills: teaching advocacy, promoting civic engagement and encouraging self-expression

Opportunity: providing ways to implement solutions and impact local communities.

A braver, kinder world. That sounds like a conscious decision.
                                                                                                     

Secret Agents and Superheroes

Ingenuity has always fascinated me. Kindness, of course, is one of my passions. So, when you combine the two, as they are in Laura Miller, I become almost incoherent with excitement. Seriously, it's what I imagine a fix must be like for addict. I get jittery, my mind races with ideas, I'm overwhelmed by all the potential for good. Right now, I'm in the middle of a fix I've just discovered...so bear with me as I try to channel my thoughts coherently.

It started with an article I found about a pre-school teacher at Missoula Community School in Missoula, Montana, who has her students don capes and become 'superheroes of kindness'. WOW. What better superhero could there be? The children perform weekly gestures of kindness in their community, that have inspired adults to become superheroes of kindness as well. (Kindness has that power doesn't it.) Apparently, Krystal Burns, the teacher of the superheroes of kindness, was inspired by Secret Agent L. (aka Laura Miller).

Secret Agent L, from Pittsburgh, anonymously performs acts of kindness throughout her community, and then blogs about them - sound familiar? (except for the anonymous part :) She now has affiliated agents all over the world helping her to perform missions that change the world we live in. She calls them missions, I call them daks. I think there is a great connection here. I think Secret Agent L needs some dakbands. So although we don't have secret agents, we do have dakscouts. And my dakscout is going to send some dakbands to Secret Agent L., and the superheroes of kindness at Missoula Community School.

One thing is becoming clear, as my adrenalin starts to find a normal level, I need to get daks on the twitter bandwagon!!

Stay tuned for updates on our new and improved map, our new dakbands (arriving early next week) and some exciting new projects I'll soon reveal!

When Timing is Kind, A Quick Goodbye

On Sunday, we took my daughter to university - a day I had been emotionally avoiding for months. Both my children are now officially out-of-the-house - for the time being anyway (I'm told they come back). It seems significant. The greatest part of my job is done. Not sure how I feel about that.

For weeks leading up to Sunday, if I even thought about saying good-bye to my daughter, I'd begin to tear up. I'd also cry thinking about how quiet the house was going to be without her presence, or how awkward it would be to set the table for three instead of four, even seeing her bedroom floor (something I haven't seen in years) made me cry, knowing that all her clothes are now scattered somewhere else. Most of all, I'll miss her day to day kindnesses: her willingness to contribute and help out (most of the time with smile), her sunny disposition which was infectious, her generous babysitting and chauffeur experience, and the "love you"s as she rushed out door.

As the end of the afternoon approached, the new bed was made, the clothes were hanging in their new closet (for the time being), mini fridge was plugged in, lunch was had, the knot in my stomach moved to my throat. I could feel the tears beginning to well up. Suddenly, we all realized that she was late for a mandatory meeting of her new dormitory, and we still had to make a suitcase/computer exchange. She ran upstairs to her room while we ran down into the parking garage, we met back on the main floor with barely time for hug. Then she was gone. There were no tears, no hysterical sobbing, no embarrassing displays of emotion at all - there simply wasn't time. Sometimes timing is everything, if not kind.



Mother and daughter.

Inspiring and innovative

A colleague sent me the link to this video about the Philadelphia Field Project this morning. My husband and I, our son and daughter and son's girlfriend just spent four days vacationing in Philadelphia at the beginning of August. It is a great city and we had an awesome time, so this project really resonated with me. It is an inspiring and innovative approach to resolving issues surrounding poverty - very similar to paradigm in The Blue Sweater Sweater.



Here is the link to their website.

Day 11 of 31

Banana Bread and Kindness

Yesterday I spent most of my morning with a grade 7 class at Bowmore P.S. in Toronto. A student contacted me a few months ago, following my interview on CBC Radio (see podcasts). She told me about an audio documentary that she was working on and asked if she could interview me. I was flattered and very curious about her project.

With my own personal videographer in tow (my brother-in-law) - I wanted to capture this interview, and the class presentation I offered to do, for posterity (and with some artful editing a YouTube video perhaps!). Tim and I made the drive from Burlington to Toronto under sunny skies, that hinted at today's warmth, in record time because the QEW traffic gods must have been happy about the weather as well - I can't find any other reason to explain the absence of traffic at 9:00 am on a weekday! Both of us were curious about the young woman, the project and her classmates response to dakbands. Let me just say that even if the traffic gods had been truculent it would have been worth the trip.

Young Emily was articulate, informed, self confident and courteous. The interview was professional and fun. Her teacher was gracious, enthusiastic and encouraging, while all her classmates impressed us with their attentiveness and enthusiasm. During the presentation to the class I happened to mention that I have not received a dakband from someone and I am very much looking forward to the day when I do receive my first band. I left the school with eight dakbands, some great video and a grateful heart.

I don't want to give away any details about Emily's project because I have invited her to write a post about it in her own words. But I'll give you hint.....it involves banana bread and kindness.

WOW, Schools!

My lack of posting last week was as much due to my busy dak event schedule as it was to the nasty virus that ravaged my entire body. I'll spare you the details of the viral war and wow you with the scoop on all the school activities.

I am so thrilled with the momentum of the dakband project within the school system. This past, November 17th to 21st, was National Bullying Awareness Week in Canada. Elementary and secondary schools within the Halton Catholic School Board recognized the importance of this occasion with a variety of activities and events designed to increase awareness and empathy of students, teachers and families. We are proud to share that two local secondary schools, Notre Dame and St. Ignatius of Layola, distributed dakbands to their prefects and students as part of their anti-bullying campaigns! I was invited to both schools to talk with the prefects about the bands and how by simply wearing them we are reminded of a higher purpose and the conscious choices we make in response to others. I believe it is wiser and more effective to encourage kindness, than to spend our energy trying to 'prevent' bullying.

Finally at the end of week the Halton Catholic School Board hosted it's second annual 'Be the Change' conference. Two student leaders from each school were invited to the conference. Throughout the day, in groups of 12/13, the students rotated through 6 stations. Each station featured activities that taught them the importance and significance of their roles within their school and community in relationship to aspects of bullying prevention. Kara and I hosted one of these stations, and spoke to the students and teachers about the ability of kindness to change how we live in our communities. It was absolutely amazing to see their reactions to the dakbands, students and teachers alike. We had some administrators who told us that this was the most awesome project they had EVER seen. All the schools left with information on how to implement the dakband project into their school community.

As the person who approves stories before they are posted to the site I can say with great delight and pride that the students at these schools have used the bands with integrity and empathy! I have listed below some band numbers for you to look up, so you can see the simplicity and value and meaning behind the deliberate acts of kindness that these students have shared.

Please go to our track your dak page:

#29636 (WOW)
#29798 (teacher appreciation)
#31306 (friendship)
By clicking on the 'organization' tab on the track your dak page and choosing either of these schools, you can see all the stories they have registered.

I am so encouraged by the vision of a kinder, more humane, community these students and schools have!

More to come, the next few days are filled with exciting events!!