In today’s world, there are overwhelmingly congested attributes of negativity: greed, selfishness, and hatred. The one constant the world has is kindness. Kindness represents the light that shines on us with a glimmer of hope that “not everything will continue to be bad.” It is a trait and characteristic that I fear, in recent years, has slowly begun to vanish from our humanity and hearts.
As a teacher who believes that kindness is something we should always have and never lose, I chose to commence this journey of having my SKR BFITS Program students be reminded and remember their inner kindness. How did I do that? You might ask.
I took the initiative and challenged my students, M2, M5, and M6, to explore the beauty of kindness without expecting or getting anything in return. The voyage that came was not just an academic exercise but a life-changing experience, and I hope it touched each of my students’ hearts.
Stage is Set: Kindness Preparation
The project began with an easy yet strong objective: each student was tasked with performing an act of kindness for someone else, from the heart and with nothing in return. The goal wasn’t to earn praise, monetary rewards, or even recognition. The point was for them to connect with the delight of giving and the impact it has on my students and the others who received their kindness. They showed hesitation initially because they did not seem to understand the point of the project. Different questions were flooding the classroom during our discussion of the project.
The question that somewhat broke my heart was, “Teacher, how much do we have to spend on this?” I explained, very adamantly, that kindness does not follow the monetary; it follows the intention. It was a great opportunity for them to see that money doesn’t equal kindness. They understood that they could be kind without it involving lots of money, or even any money. This was the beginning of helping them remember how good it felt to be kind to others and also remind themselves of how good it felt when others were kind to them as well.
Unleashing the Acts: Kindness Begins
Seeing their opportunity to be creative and kind, I became more excited for this lesson to sink in with my students. Without any more hesitation, my students welcomed the challenge like sponges to water. I did not mentally prepare, at first, for how innovative my students were going to be relating to this project.
Even more so, the Suankularbwittayalai Rangsit (SKR) School became recipients and witnessed the true value of kindness from their heartwarming actions. From giving encouraging notes to uplift others’ spirits to more impactful acts like making physical therapy equipment for recovering patients and children at the hospital, the kindness scale was extensive. It was truly motivating to see how a small act of kindness, with pure intentions and selflessness, could create immense amounts of positivity and newfound friendships throughout the school and community.
To show my continued support for what the students accomplished, I placed the same task on myself by completing the kindness project with them doing my own acts of kindness.
Expectations Surpassed: Lessons Learned
After all my students performed their acts of kindness, I asked each group to look back and reflect on their experience doing the project. With that in mind, the lessons that surfaced from their entries were heartfelt, wise, and also something that would live beyond the walls of their classrooms.
- Overcoming Social Anxiety: In high school, students have a variety of personalities both introverted and extroverted. Many of the students expressed initial concern because of their social anxiety, but after beginning the project, they realized how their gestures opened them up to be more sociable with others.
- First Steps to New Friendships: Friendship is a large factor of high school students as well as interaction. Students found out, through this project, that taking the first step (by utilizing kindness) is a great start to new friendships. A student quoted in their reflection paper they love this project because their kindness also allowed them to see others happy and also make new friends, which made them happy as well.
- Empathy and Connections: Their kindness was a small stepping stone to building a bridge to understanding others as well as empathy. Based on their reflections, students understood that their actions gave them the chance to connect with others. They learned that others and themselves shared some of the same attributes like their hopes, motivations, interests, advantages, and disadvantages. They learned that many of them are more similar than they thought and built genuine friendships through that.
- Givers are happier than Takers: True to the statement, givers are happier than takers, but why? My students may have been more accustomed to taking things (or receiving something) rather than giving. Now I am not saying that they do not give, but based on the beginnings of this project (reference above), it did not seem as natural to them. By the end of this project, they seemed so much happier to have been a part of making someone’s day better. They realized how good it feels to be the reason someone smiles more, even if it is just a moment.
An Impact That Would Last
The project came to an end, but their kindness seemed to be still burning like fire inside. In their reflections, most of the students raved about the goodness they felt seeing how happy they made others and even said after this experience, they wanted to continue doing this without it being a project. Seeing their happiness in making others happy warmed my heart, and I hoped they would want to continue.
Going Beyond Expectations for Kindness
This project’s absolute purpose was to reveal to my students the value of true kindness and its impact in a world that prioritizes self-interest and individual achievement. Through the inspiration of acting selfless, it allowed them to be a part of creating a more harmonious community and world. It also exposed them to the ability to nurture their potential satisfaction of giving to others with no expectations but the happiness they see from helping others.
The hope is that this project will trigger something within them, individually, to continue bringing love, happiness, and kindness to others. The belief that this is only the beginning is an understatement. There is a high chance that this will not be the last of their empathy, new friendships, and, most importantly, OUR kindness.
