Spreading Kindness Throughout Our City
Photos by Mitch Ridder and Maz Nasimi
Bullying hurts everyone. We all know the pain of bullying and exclusion and how bullying negatively affects our children, their safety and our society. Bullying-related suicide is the third leading cause of death among children. I am certain that we can do better, because the status quo is unacceptable. I believe planting seeds of kindness at an early age is the key to building a safe, strong, united world.
The Ability Awareness Project is an 8-year-old Laguna Beach nonprofit on a mission to build a united, interconnected world free from bullying. It provides bullying-prevention presentations and interactive kindness programs for students K-12, parents, educators, colleges, senior centers and workplaces. The project, which has a Proclamation of Support from the city of Laguna Beach, has created the Laguna Beach Kindness Movement to spread kindness within the community. In 2018 — with the help of the project’s board member and Laguna Beach Mayor Protem Steve Dicterow — project officials registered Laguna Beach with World Kindness USA as one of its founding cities. The city of Laguna Beach has sponsored the project’s kindness events in town for the past three years as well as the new 2020 Kindness Wall on Forest Avenue Promenade.
The Ability Awareness Project’s programs teach the curriculum that’s missing in schools. It teaches compassion, empathy and not to judge others, as well as the importance of tolerance, respect, inclusion and understanding that every individual has something unique to contribute to the collective humanity regardless of our differences. Project officials believe their programs will not only put a stop to bullying but also lead youth toward becoming the next generation of compassionate, strong leaders and peacemakers.
History shows the root cause of bullying stems from the illusion of separation. Once people become too busy in their own world and lose touch with everyone’s connectedness, they tend to invite fear and separation, which can often lead to hate, bigotry and racism. Empathy, forgiveness, compassion and kindness become replaced with “what’s in it for me.” This is when forgiveness becomes harder, as people feel more separated and alone.
At school, a main form of dealing with bullying is the “no tolerance” policy, which instills a fear of being expelled and forces students to minimize their bullying behavior. This fear may reduce bullying, but it does not contribute to one’s transformation. However, science has proven kindness can transform as it connects and heals both the doer and the receiver.
Ability Awareness Project’s interactive programs begin at kindergarten. These programs utilize short movies, puppets and animations to keep children engaged, so they can learn the value of choosing the kinder option and how to “be a friend.”
It takes practice to let go of judgement and respond with kindness. For this reason, the project offers up to 25 interactive kindness programs that focus on people’s similarities rather than their differences. Whether programs are done one classroom at a time or with an entire school, the senior center or the corporate office staff, they collectively reveal the same lesson; people are the same. They may think differently, look differently, have different belief systems, different values and different forms of expression, but ultimately, they all come from the same source.
Only when we see our sameness can we begin to forgive.
by: Shadi Pourkashef
Composer, Conductor, Teacher @anami.co
Founder/Executive Director of Ability Awareness
Project @KindAndSafeSchools.org
Goodwill Ambassador of World Kindness for the City of Laguna Beach
Voted The Best Activist of Laguna Beach
OneOC's Champions of Change Makers
