What does kindness look like to you?

Story by Gina D

“What does kindness look like to you?”

This is the question of the week for my second grade class. It couldn’t have been a more important topic for us to talk about this week with all of the recent events occurring. It hurts to think that there are people out there with such hate in their heart and emptiness in their minds who want to hurt another person because of their race. What makes us unique is what makes us beautiful, not unacceptable. What is unacceptable is creating a divide between people based on the color of their skin, using actions and words that hurt deep, and to look down upon others.

I certainly don’t claim to know it all or even understand it all, because I don’t. But I do understand that it is my duty and quite literally my job to make a difference. 

That starts with educating our little scholars, and moldable youth.

Children FEEL this pain. They are observant, and intuitive. They take in the world around them, and they carry their experiences with them as they grow. We need to mold children to spread love, not hate. Children are quite possibly the one pure constant that we have to hold on to right now. They are honest, blunt, and they are our future. 

Something I can do as an educator is help. I wanted to find a way to do something positive to make an impact. I want to educate the younger generation to be kind, ALWAYS.

Recently, I reflected back to a specific day in school when I was reading the book “Martin’s Big Words” to my class. This was just before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I sat down to read it to my students. As I was reading the page that described the hate that Martin endured, I began to cry. My students all stared at me probably wondering why I was so upset. In that moment I thought to myself “What am I going to tell these children? What is the best way for me to explain this?” We discussed our feelings and thoughts about how tragic and sad these couple of pages were. I realized in that moment that I was going to teach these children how to BE kind and use powerful, positive energy to change the world. 

When planning for this week, I wanted the students to dissect what kindness means to them and what act of kindness they can show to someone this week. If all humans of the world focused each week on at least one act of kindness they can show another human, wouldn’t that show love? Wouldn’t that show compassion? Empathy? Wouldn’t that help to eradicate hate?

In addition to our question of the week, we are focusing on 3 important words: EMPATHY, DIVERSITY, and RESPECT. 

Empathy– The ability to understand and share the feelings of someone else. 

Diversity– The condition of having or being composed of differing elements, especially the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.

(Showing) Respect– Interacting with others in a way that shows that you care about their well-being and how they feel. 

Every single human deserves to be treated like a HUMAN. Every single human should be treated with RESPECT. Every single human should celebrate DIVERSITY. Every single human should be EMPATHETIC towards others and seek to understand what they may be going through. 

Our younger generation needs to internalize this. Adults have the ability to lead by example, to drive out hate, and show children (and others) what it means to be kind. As a teacher, I MOST definitely will do everything in my power to make sure every child feels equal and celebrated. We need to use our power to lift others up, because wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing? 

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else up.” ~Booker T. Washington