When I was first given the opportunity to present at Pecha Kucha last month, I was really excited. As I’ve mentioned before, I love Random Acts and what they stand for. I wanted more people to know about them. I wanted people to understand what an impact this organization has had on my life.
And then the shooting in Orlando happened. And a number of seemingly-innocent traffic stops turned deadly. And of course, it’s an election year, so there’s plenty of negativity going around there.
I started to ask myself if random acts of kindness really mattered. I wondered if they were really doing any good. I guess you could call it a crisis of faith, in some respects. And of course, the timing couldn’t have been worse–I was getting ready to do a whole presentation about why kindness matters, for goodness’ sake!
I ended up on the phone with Jennifer, the current director of development at Random Acts. She was my inspiration for even attempting a presentation like this, and she was so helpful while I was preparing for it. Her belief in the power of kindness helped me strengthen mine again. And honestly, what’s the alternative? Meeting hatred with hatred won’t get us anywhere. It’s when people are treated with respect and kindness that they really begin to return to the kind of caring people we’re all capable of being. The kind of people I believe we all can be, and are.
And so I will continue to choose kindness. To me, it’s the only choice that makes sense.
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