It's amazing how one dollar can change the culture of a school.We have a small school of about 30 middle/high school students (It's actually one of a global setup). It can get really competitive and stressful as most of the kids get good grades and strive to be the best they can be. It's good except that a lot of us middle kids felt really pressured. The feeling was one that had sort of turned into 'every man for himself'.
In response, my friend and I set out to find a way to change the culture. We decided that doing things for others was the only way to get ourselves over our depression about school and we stumbled on this website and a few others.
On the first day of school we snuck a dollar folded into a heart into one of the senior's lockers with a slip of paper that said, "Buy yourself a snack, #sharekindness." We hoped to do one of these a day and maybe a few small gifts. Little did we know the impact it would have.
People went wild over it and everyone was talking about who it might be doing the acts of kindness and deciding that maybe they should do something too. Nobody knew it was us and we had to do some good faking but it is SO much fun to see the smiles on everyone's faces now! Lots of other people have started sharing kindness now too: Chocolate bars, cookies, money left in the vending machine, people sharing their lunches with other kids. All kinds of super nice things. I have already got a cookie in my locker and lots of notes on the thanks board with a note: "thanks to whoever started #sharekindness"
My friend and I also put inspirational quotes in all the lockers and slips of paper with space to thank/compliment others. It's been epic! And now I actually look forward to school and the chance to cheer people up. I hope it will spread to the other campuses in the region if we do an article about it. If anybody is struggling with being depressed at school and work, I totally recommend doing acts of kindness :) Please pray for it to keep going :)
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- Posted by AG101
- Sep 3, 2016
- Comments (17)
Readers Comments
cabbage wrote: What an awesome way to change culture---just by one simple act of kindness. Wowza!
You and your friend are amazing changemakers! Thank you for sharing your story and i know that the chain of kindness will keep on going. Bless you all!
You and your friend are amazing changemakers! Thank you for sharing your story and i know that the chain of kindness will keep on going. Bless you all!
SmileHarder wrote: Someone did this in our school and it is amazing how it changes the culture. For the guys, someone put birds in their lockers instead of hearts, and for the girls, random hearts were appearing in backpacks, lockers. All over the place. Kids have been receiving chocolate bars, quotes, notebooks, you name it. So cool!
beachsand wrote: What a great story. Thank you for sharing. I will pray for you and for the kindness to continue. What strength you and your friend have.
lindariebel wrote: This secret should spread everywhere!
AG101 wrote: Update: 9. 3 . 16
There is still a lot of #sharekindness going around, and everyone is really caring a lot more. The other day someone was having a bad day and a bunch of us girls ended up having a big group hug. Also, i've come closer to 1 of my friends because we wrote each other notes and got some things sorted out. We also got anonymous recognition in the school newsletter about what we were doing, only nobody knows it's us! :) i think our respect for each other and love for each other has definitely grown. I especially want to keep it going during exam season b/c we take cambridge exams and it can get kind of stressful. If anybody has ideas for more things we can do. Please suggest! Thanks! :)
There is still a lot of #sharekindness going around, and everyone is really caring a lot more. The other day someone was having a bad day and a bunch of us girls ended up having a big group hug. Also, i've come closer to 1 of my friends because we wrote each other notes and got some things sorted out. We also got anonymous recognition in the school newsletter about what we were doing, only nobody knows it's us! :) i think our respect for each other and love for each other has definitely grown. I especially want to keep it going during exam season b/c we take cambridge exams and it can get kind of stressful. If anybody has ideas for more things we can do. Please suggest! Thanks! :)
dhivyashana wrote: Wonderful! :)
Thank you very much for sharing this. Helps perfectly at this moment. (to add it to the activities list of daan utsav meet tomorrow)
Thank you very much for sharing this. Helps perfectly at this moment. (to add it to the activities list of daan utsav meet tomorrow)
rhill wrote: that's fabulous! You've started a tidal wave of kindness in your community. Way to go!!
kjoyw wrote: Absolutely wonderful kindness!
RoseMarie wrote: It is 3.30 am where I am and I am a patient in hospital. This was the first post I read and I can tell you, it really warmed my heart. Thank you AG, the world needs more people like you with your kindness ripples. X
mindyjourney wrote: yay!! That's how we change the world, my friend...one beautiful kindness at a time <3. Thank for sharing with us.
