In her latest book, “The Light We Carry”. Michelle Obama has a
chapter titled, “Starting Kind”, which is a reminder of the value of being kind.
This chapter reminded me of the mosaics that I have noticed
attached to the wall of some of the schools that I have worked at, and they
look like this:
I wasn’t sure of “rest of the story”, so I did some research.
Here’s the founder’s story:
In 2002, Jeannette Maré’s
life changed forever when her son, Ben, died suddenly just before his third
birthday.
In the months following his death, Jeannette
and her friends and family began making ceramic wind chimes – the first Ben’s
Bells – in her backyard studio. Being surrounded by supportive people and
working with clay toward a common goal was therapeutic for her family and their
healing.
During this time, Jeannette
learned how a small act of kindness could make such a difference in a person’s
life, no matter their background. She wanted to find a way to teach others
about the impact of intentional acts of kindness, and so the idea for the Bell
came to life. Jeannette and her friends made four hundred Bells and randomly
distributed them in the Tucson community on the first anniversary of Ben’s
death.
Through these Bells, she had
found a way to pay forward the kindnesses that had been shown to her.
This started a powerful
ripple effect. People who found the Bells shared their own stories of grief and
healing and hope. The local newspaper printed the story on the front page.
School groups and businesses and individuals started calling to see how they
could get involved and soon, thousands of Tucsonans were helping to craft Ben’s
Bells.
Since 2003, Ben’s Bells has
been operating as a nonprofit, growing kindness education programs and
continuing to distribute thousands of Bells every year. Today Bells are found
all over the world and our free kindness education programming has
reached over 1.6 million students.
Kind Stitches is a collaboration between Ben’s Bells and Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Community Transition Programs.
In addition to the murals on schools,
the organization has also created mosaics on other community locations in both
Arizona and Connecticut.
Since even watching the
news can be a stressful activity, it’s refreshing to know that a little
kindness can make a huge difference in our lives – and Michelle Obama gives us
many examples of that.
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