Randoms Acts - The Important Part of Life

This is so worth the read.  The random act of kindness is alive and well!  Is it for you?

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Random-Acts-of-Kindness-Festival-a-big-hit-163329026.html

Changing Our Children with Respect

We all act in our contacts with others.  We all hide ourselves behind walls or faces that aren't our own.  As adults we seldom feel we can be ourselves because, "what might others think of us?"

But learning the value of respect and caring really begins when we are young.  As young people we often find ourselves mistreating others because someone we're trying to emulate and impress.  We do it without thinking and without feeling at all.  That is part of growing up, but it doesn't need to be.

Adults can step in, instead of standing back and nodding and noticing.  They need to do that more.  They can say something, or simply step forward and be the example of caring when someone is is being bullied.

Why don't we step forward more?  For some it is because they are mired in their own fears.  Sadly, I know for me that has in the past been a driving force.  I think we all need to take a page out of one my own personal heroes' books.  Leo Buscaglia realized early on that caring for others was more important than looking good in other people's eyes.  In his story about is entrance into school in the U.S. after moving here with his family told not of success but of the love he learned about in a class for those who are handicapped.  If I remember the story correctly, he was put there because he couldn't speak English.  There he saw more love shown through hugs and caring than in any normal educational setting he has seen since then.

We can do so much through caring - we can do little but create hate through anger or aggression.

Pass on the love.

Where Has All the Kindness Gone...

I am reissuing this blog because I believe it hits the mark for what we need to remember as Americans, and citizens of the world too.  Pass the kindness on!

A play on an old song is such a valid question these days in our terribly hurried society.  We no longer are taught to value the fellow travelers on our journey, it almost seems like it's okay to devalue, or worse still to be cruel or rude to someone who slows us in our own personal race.

This rant comes along side of one that I read today from a blogger friend that bemoaned the fact that people are often threatening, or cruel to people with disabilities.  It's sad, but our society seems to value more what we see as the whole and perfect as apposed to those who might have a physical attribute that slows their pace, or frustrates the mind and blocks our general rush through life.

How have we so quickly forgotten the gifts given to the world by Professor Stephen W. Hawking, or Helen Keller?  Where is our awe for people who have the gifts of a Christoper Reeves, or Christy Brown (The Academy Award winning film My Left Foot profiled his life.)? 

In spite of the constant examples daily of those who continue to contribute so much to our lives through science, music, and the world of words I see such a loss of respect for those who might move more slowly either mentally or physically than those considered normal.  I often wonder where that term comes from - normal.  Because some of the most normal or the kindest souls I know are those who are labeled learning disabled, and some of those who help the hardest in any kind of disaster are those who are often handicapped with emotional burdens. 

I wonder when we'll learn that we all are disabled in one way or another - we are simply able to hide that fact from a world that devalues those who aren't considered perfect....

Kindness, and More

I ran across a cool new blog today and want to share it.  "That's Write," is a writer's blog of course, but what drew me to it was this great button she has there as well as the explanation I found to describe it (Which by the way is now on my blog on the top right.).  She is right about kindness being relegated to the back of the bus in our lives, and I think we need to be reminded that for many of our small, simple kind acts or comments are the only real meaningful contact they have some days.  And of course those of you who know me know that I am more than passionate about being kind!

Why not stop by her blog and take a peak?  You won't be sorry!

http://leightmoore.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-schedule-and-big-congratulations.html

Spring...Maybe

Spring's here.  That isn't anything new in the Southern part of our country, but here in the Midwest we should just be coming out of our ice and snow.  This year is an unusual in everyday.  Our weather pattern for this part of the world for March is Snow and cold, and instead many of our spring flowering plants, bushes, and trees are blooming quickly and fading fast in a month that has been mostly above the mid 70s and often in the 80s.

But tonight, we dip back into the icy cold, and I'm more than a little glad I didn't begin to garden too soon.

Spirit-filled, Courage

Today, in spoken word, text, and thought I have been faced down with the word courage - 3 times.  Each time I have explored in a thoughtful, almost spiritual manner chewing on the consonants and swallowing the harshness that comes from my own fear of stepping up and being courage-filled when I have always held back and been more follower than leader.

I have to admit that the idea of being courageous has often put me to flight if not in actuality, then at least in my mind.  There are so many reasons for my fearfulness, all of them tied to the past.  You'd think I would be able to step beyond that history and find a way to stand tall,but it isn't as easy as that sounds.

So, today I tell myself out loud that I'm really brave.  I can truly stand up for myself.  When I have little successes I smile, but even the little ones are so difficult at times.

I often feel like the wind, sometimes strong and powerful, while wispy and zephyr-like at other moments.  There is no constancy in my nature many days no matter how hard I try.  But I do feel I know my strengths better, and my days seem to be better. I think I know me better and understand who I am, and what I can actually do in my small world, today.

I've learned to at least like change, especially in my computer.  I'm taking pride in problem solving when there are new programs, and glad when I prove myself when conquering everything new.

My computer is actually where I do the strongest work on me.  I know my computer is a friend, even when there are changes.  At least there fear does not rule.  No, there challenges and success are the norm.

Now to get it to carry over into the rest of my life.

It's Poetry Month!

It's Poetry Month!  And if you need your poetry fix like I do, check out Knof Publishing's a poem a day emails.  I live them!

Check it out!    http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/2012/03/15/poem-a-day-2012-sign-up/