Kindness and consequence.docx Kindness and consequence.
1. Kindness and consequence
What do you see when you watch the news? When you turn on the radio, when you read the headlines? Hatred,
poverty, war, crime, fear, depression, suicide, hopelessness, bullying. Do you know what I see? I see people with
amazing potential who’ve just lost their way, and forgotten to believe in themselves. Stop recognizing the potential
they have, to affect real and positive change in this world.
I see the small barely detectable acts of kindness, amidst the chaos. I see kindness and how we can change people,
how it’s most certainly changing me, this is the world I see. It’s not just a feel-good film that I put together. Each and
every scene that you’re watching, is based upon real-life experiences, moments in my life that have had an impact and
impression on me.
I’d like to share one story with you, about the boy, middle school student of mine who is labeled by everyone as a
bully, but all you needed to do is just kill the layers and see that there was so much more there. He was considered
every teacher’s worst nightmare, rude disrespectful disruptive bully even his peers made fun of him and called him
annoying, and got into fights with him on a daily basis, it killed me to see that…Because when I looked at him, I saw
a child with a heart of gold, searching, wishing, hoping that someone would see that within him, give him a chance.
See past the rough tough exterior and recognize that there was something so much more there.
The teachers had a bit of patience with him but after time ran out, I’ll never forget this one day he got into trouble
with the teacher and it was kind of a last straw they were speaking and suspending him, as I saw was going on and I
ran over and I stuck up for him. I will never forget the look on his face. He couldn’t believe it, no one ever done that
for him before, he came over to me and he said: “Why did you do that? I’m so mean to you. Why do you care?” and I
looked at him straight in the eye and I said: “Because I think the world of view, and I only hope that one day you
could see yourself through my eyes. I will always bet on you, so you can push and you can push, this is one person
it’s not going anywhere ” and he looked at me and said: “Why?” I said “Because I know what it’s like to have people
give up on you. I know what it’s like to feel alone.
When I was 15 years old and I went through tragedy – my family. We had a fire - my house, my dad lost his business
and one thing after the next step continuing to go wrong, and I fell into a state of a really deep depression, and I was
really close to just giving up, what killed me most was that, no one was there for me, but I promised myself something
at 15 years old. I promised myself that I would be there for people, the way that I wish someone would have been
there for me. 14 years later I’m still keeping to that promise.
He looked at me and he didn’t say a word but I knew he understood. I saw the spark was lit. From that moment things
began to change. At the end of his 8th
grade year, I wrote him a letter, and I only found that recently now that he’s in
college, he still has that letter and he told me: “You know ,I’ve taken that letter out so many times during high school,
just to know that there’s someone out there that’s betting on me”. It’s amazing! The power of kindness. Believing in
someone and helping them to believe again in themselves, whether it’ll be bullying or any of the other social issues
going on today’s time. If you look at the core, the heart of the matter, it’s a lack of self-esteem and self-value, that is
the cause behind this wildfire. Practice kindness, empower people. Recognize that although people make mistakes,
they matter, there’s significant, and only then will you be able to quell the fires and can we expect to see change.
Some of you… looking at this film, I’m sure you have your own film going on rolling through your head, recalling
instances in which someone gave you a lifetime of kindness, that’s because it matters and you know the significant
role not only displayed in your life, but in the world at large. This is the world I see…and if you allow yourselves, this
will be the world that you will see as well. Thank you!
