CNN Heroes - What A Great Event/Incredible People

There's so much bad news on tv each day and yet there are so many incredible organizations and people doing amazing things to help others each day. Kudos to CNN for taking a day to call to attention these "everyday heroes." If you didn't get a chance to watch it live, this link contains the clips of the 10 honorees as well as the winner. I post them on the blog as a further remind to the students in the class as well as all of us of the potential and power that we all have to change the world for the better. One primary goal of this class has been to plant seeds in the minds of the students that each of them has the ability and power to make a big difference in the world. We have talked in class about it, had field activities to see and feel it up close as well as had the opportunity to meet people and organizations that have done it. To me, CNN Heroes and the wonderfully moving stories (like so many we have seen and heard during the class) is another shining example of how much good each and everyone one of us is capable of (regardless of one's age or background). http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html

Someone goes out their way for me on a cold Monday morning

Its amazing how the small things that someone does can affect you (positively). Each morning I take the commuter rail to Boston to work. I walk to the very far end of the platform (about ~3 city blocks...it's a long way to the end or to the front of the train). Today, when I got to the end of the platform to wait, a stranger came to me and said, "I didn't think you would ever stop....you dropped this out of your pocket." It was a fed ex package slip I had in my coat pocket that I was looking at when I first got on the platform. It dropped out and this gentleman followed me all the way to give it to me and then turned around to walk back to his "normal" spot which was clearly towards the back not the front (so 2 or 3 blocks he walked out of his way). I thanked him several times and told him he did a good deed and then he waved. I thought for an extra moment about this act of kindness this man did for me because of something one of the students said in our last class when he asked / remarked to the class, "if we do all this good stuff who will do stuff for us." The answer is that first many people and organizations have already done so much for us such as Citizen's, RandomKid, Costco, Fidelity and many more to make this class special for the kids. And secondly, like "paying it forward" it is a "leap of faith" that by helping someone and being kind, that someone / somewhere down the road will return the favor. I know this to be the case and this class has reinforced this in so many ways in terms of the people and things that have happened to me, the kids and others as a result. But from time to time it is fair and okay to ask the question and to need to be reminded every so often as this student did.

To Lillian, "The Kindest Person In Cheshire, CT" According to my Sister

Lillian, thank you so much for the wonderful "Kindness Matters" sign. It is wonderful. My sister told me how wonderful you are and now I know it as well with your random act of kindness for me.

Class 8 - Diversity and Sensitivity Training

For today's class, Al Toney, from Ak Consulting, led an interactive workshop with the kids on issues around diversity such as stereotyping. Some of us had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with Al at the Student Leadership Conference in Maynard as he was one of the workshop leaders there. I was so impressed with Al's workshop in October and specifically with his ability to connect with all of the kids there around sensitive issues such as stereotyping, name calling, bullying, that I was very excited to try to get him back to our class to dive further into these issues including how the children can handle these issues when they come up. Al's own story is quite remarkable as he was a police officer for 8 years. His career as an officer ended when he was shot trying to diffuse an incident in a bar while off duty.

The ultimate goal of this class and the work with Al is for the kids to be able to first understand that we are all different in some way. And secondly, there are many things that they hear about people who are different including differences of color, sex, sexual preferences, religion, monetary status, etc that are both hurtful and blatantly false. And those of us / them who can see through these stereotypes and the fear and ignorance that they are based in, are the real leaders among us.

To learn more about Al's background and his diverisity consulting, here is his website. http://www.akconsultingservices.com/

Here are some video clips from today's interactive session with Al.

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 29 ry i Video Length 0:23 Click here to watch

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 30 Video Length 0:49 Click here to watch

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 34 Video Length 1:07 Click here to watch

Al and the Kids Talk about Stereotyping

The class goes over their findings about what stereotypes they have heard about a wide different groups of people such as "white, black, rich people, poor people, men, women, teenagers, and more"

Here Al leads the class through a very powerful exercise of "Have you ever?" Such as "Have you ever been the "victim" of discrimination as a result of your sex, color, or anything else?"

A Chance To Meet A Real Hero

Last Monday a co worker of mine gave me a copy of the article below, "Have you been kind today." It is an incredible story of a 54 year old man named, Frank Sullivan, who is truly living a life of kindness. As the article says, Frank was recognized for his heroic actions in January when he witnessed a robber punch a commuter in the face, snatch his iPod, and flee. Sullivan chased the perpetrator off the train, tackled him on a moving escalator, and detained him until police arrived. Amazingly, as the article also states, in another dramatic twist: Sullivan almost lost his life in 1979 after he confronted misbehaving diners in a Chinatown restaurant, who then waited outside for him and shot him twice in the head, leaving him legally blind and hard of hearing. As heroic and incredible as his act was on the commuter rail, each day Frank successfully looks for and carries out "heroic" actions through an organization he founded called PINCH such as recently helping to raise funds for a wheelchair for a boy whose wheelchair was stolen. As the article states when he witnessed the iPod crime, Sullivan was reading a book called "Practice Random Acts of Kindness." After reading the article, I quickly sent an email to the author of the class asking if I could contact Frank. He quickly got back to me, we talked, and less than a week later today we met. What an incredible man and an incredible story. I feel very lucky to have met him and hear his story of struggle, persistence, hope and kindness. I hope that the kids will have the chance as well to meet him before the end of the class.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/11/08/have_you_been_kind_today/
http://wbztv.com/local/dispatcher.stops.mugger.2.915189.html

Cleaning, Sorting and Packing Toys at Cradles to Crayons

Today we spent the afternoon helping out Cradles to Crayons (C2C) in Quincy, Mass. Cradles to Crayons is an awesome organization with the mission of providing to children ages 0 to 12 some of the most important basics of life—free of charge. These basics include clothing, school supplies, toys, and much more. By supplying children with high-quality used or new goods, C2C "make children feel valued".....what a great mission! C2C gets volunteers of all backgrounds and ages from kids to adults to help in a variety of ways including cleaning, sorting and packing the donations that C2C receives so that they are ready to go out to needy families and kids. http://cradlestocrayons.org/giving_factory/

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 29 Video Length 0:47 Click here to watch

Finishing up at Cradles to Crayons

Preparing Custom Made Happy Birthday Bags For Kids...

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 30 Video Length 0:32 Click here to watch