Sunday, September 21, was International Day of Peace. There is not a proclamation per se, but you can read ideas from the UN here. I attended a Peace Festival on Saturday, marked by children and youth mostly, with singing, dances, and poems. An enthusiastic audience supported every group. The root of “peace” is pag, which means “fasten.” Applause and appreciation unite us with a shared response that is hard to resist.
The irony is double. First, we truly are bound together by the space we occupy. My brief lyric is, again, below. We cannot escape it. Yet, we don’t agree with each other on multiple topics, even the ones that should be obvious—peace, love, family, truth.
Second, those who seek to destroy our peace are not typically those who surround us, even in disagreement. They will come for us regardless of our desire for peace. Examples available on request. Rather than our pursuing peace, then, we must be peace.
The same is true for kindness—almost. As I will discuss more closer to the time, Dallas Kindness Week happens November 9-15. The 15th is a culmination festival, filled with performers, booths, food trucks, face painting, and much more. We will feel the uniting goals.
If in your group, your silo, your tribe you say mean and hateful things about people with whom you disagree, then you are not kind and need a sticker or button to remind you that the vast majority of people are not evil. You can say they are, give examples on request, but their actions are limited to speech. Guess what? They are doing the same thing to you.
Running late, and it probably shows, but I want to make the point as plain as possible. You are probably kind. If you aren’t, it doesn’t show. Take the Kindness Pledge anyway. If you are kind and know someone who isn’t, send it to them, too. You can include them in a broader share perhaps.
Listening to a young woman from the Anti-Defamation League, I realized I want the really unkind people to hear the message. I don’t know how to find the fringes, but I intend to look. And send a sticker or 50 so they can’t say they don’t know…
Kindness Week Pledge
I choose kindness.
I will notice who needs a smile.
I will listen with respect.
I will connect with compassion.
I will help when I can, even in small ways.
I will treat others the way I want to be treated.
And I will remember:
Kindness is a decision.
Kindness is strength.
Kindness is action.
Kindness starts with me.
Bless the Space Between Us
Bless the space between us
That there may be hope within us.
Bless the space between us—
Fill our hearts with peace.
Bless the space between us
That there may be love within us.
Bless the space between us—
Fill our hearts with peace.
Bless the space between us
That it shall disappear.
Let us seek now and always
The path to peace, to peace.
©Mary Ann Taylor
©2024
Thank you so much for promoting and being a fine example of kindness. We need a daily reminder!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!