GMA's Fixation segment aired this video today. A police horse at the Occupy Wall Street New York movement meets Frenchie, a curious and enthusiastic French Bulldog. Now if these two can strike a balance, maybe there is hope for the rest of us!
Many communities are observing local Random Acts of Kindness Day today, November 4, 2011. Not to be confused with World Kindness Day which is November 13, or the other more globally celebrated Random Acts of Kindness Day in February. It does get a little confusing, but I'm not complaining. It isn't consumer driven, nobody is getting drunk on green beer (unfortunately) or arrested (presumably), it doesn't interfere with work, and it's always eco-friendly! I think of it as just one more reminder to be kind.
Can't wait until next years National Talk Like a Pirate Day!
With all the events springing up worldwide in response to banking greed, wouldn't you love to tell the big banks to do just that? KissBank has! Okay, so it's not a real bank per se, but a website designed to judge a person's worth by their kindness, not wealth. People around the globe are recognized for helping others with a Kiss, the new social currency.
From the KissBank site: Like any other bank, you track Kisses in and out of your personal account. The KissBank Index monitors who has received the most Kisses at every level - globally, nationally and locally KissBank is also home to a global newsfeed of stories about amazing people who have done amazing deeds - stories that renew your faith in humanity. KissBank News features hundreds of celebrities who can be ‘Kissed’ for their tireless support of charities all over the world.
Last year, I introduced the Kindness Community to Bob with a post about his mission to commit one million acts of kindness during his lifetime. Traveling across the country in an old school bus covered entirely in hand painted letters, he hopes to convince as many folks as possible about this much needed movement for humanity. Well, I jumped over to his website today just to take a look at his progress and found this post he'd written called Occupy Kindness: With all of the “Occupy” events now happening in nearly every part of the country and some parts of the world, I thought that The Kindness Bus Tour should have an “Occupy Kindness” event. I think I will put this sign in place, on the hood of The Kindness Bus, every chance I get.
My son, a huge sports fan, asked me to watch a video on the Chicago Bulls Facebook page this morning. I cringed and said, "Honey, it's too early to be watching foot... bask.... uh, whatever sports!" He said "Mom, I promise, you're gonna like this!" Well he was right. Seems the Chicago Bulls mascot, Benny the Bull, loves surprising people with random acts of kindness. I'm a sucker for giant mascots! Watch him work his magic in this Jewel-Osco grocery store. The packaged beef section may have diminished his enthusiastic demeanor (his shoulders slump, his head drops, his arms go limp as he drops his groceries in shock at the beef slabs wrapped in cellophane), but he bounced back quickly. LOL.
Leon Logothetis is the host of the reality show, Amazing Adventures of a Nobody, a speaker and a writer, but mostly a people lover. He is on a kind of payback journey across America. You see, he'd crossed the country a few years ago with only $5 and a backpack after leaving his comfortable but passionless life. Though his 16 hour a day job afforded him a luxury lifestyle, he wanted to re-connect with humanity. Well, the journey changed his life and he has written a book about his interactions and the kindness of strangers.
His newest project is the Kindness Cab. The trip began at Times Square just a couple of days ago in a vintage London cab and ends in Hollywood California on November 14. The cab ride is free but Leon will donate the meter amount to local schools to buy books. Again, his purpose is simply to interact with people on a personal level to show that we are not all that different.
My favorite stunt to date from Improve Everywhere is hands down Say Something Nice. This troupe of good-natured pranksters enjoy causing a scene in very public places. Sometimes awkward, unusual, and confusing, they always leave you with a smile! This mission was carried out last August on the busy streets of New York.
There is little doubt that we are experiencing a mounting culture shift towards mindful living. It seems everyday I read about global initiatives to positively influence the way we live. When we launched String-Ring a few years ago, I was afraid the concept might be seen as polyanish. Now there seems to be an urgency in raising world consciousness. Let the revolution begin!
You've probably heard that Oprah's network has been struggling with weak ratings. Many pop-culture experts say that her focus on positivity is too much for an audience that enjoys seeing a bit of controversy and smut in their daily media intake. It saddens me that uplifting and empowering programming isn't enough to keep viewers interested. What has happened to the wisdom of the human spirit? Has the line between acceptable and deviant behavior become so blurry that on-camera confrontations have become status quo?
A Reuter's article last week stated if Oprah doesn't start paying more attention to one of the basic rules of television — conflict sells — it might just be "killing itself with kindness".
I read a report about civility on The Young Foundation website highlighting the critical role it plays in helping societies flourish. It touched on the fact that media tends to magnify the bad and that there is no evidence supporting the idea that we are getting ruder. Yet, there are so many factors in our modern world that have fragmented our code of civility (higher population densities, anonymity of the internet, bad economy, — lets not forget those reality shows that glamorize aggressive, egocentric behavior).
