"Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows"
I was - through a WhatsApp group discussion with two close friends - recently reminded of this beautiful quote. I met both these ladies in 2015 during the Leadership and Team Dynamics PTC class and our friendship embraces both the personal and professional. As a result, we often pose questions to each other on a wide range of topics [not always education related!!] and most recently the focus was on the intersection between empathy, kindness and gratitude.
This video, entitled One Day (from Life Vest Inside), is a great reminder of how connected we are and is a great starting point for students of all ages with regards to how empathy can lead to random acts of kindness which in turn engenders a sense of gratitude in those who receive such kindness .... and, most often, this leads to a individuals wanting to "pay it forward" for the good of the community.
Likewise Share ... Care ... Joy embodies empathy through the actions of a young Indian boy.
For others the inspiration for expressing gratitude come from a specific incident as is evident in Brian Doyle's TED Talk entitled 365 Days of Thank You [TEDxYouth@SanDiego 2013].
"Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows" by Robert Ingersoll is one of those quotes which, for me, encapsulates it all and also conjures up a beautiful image. Wisdom, not to mention perspective, regarding kindness and gratitude is evident in the following quotes:
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others"
[Marcus Tullius Cicero]
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them"
[John F. Kennedy]
"You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late" [Ralph Waldo Emerson]
"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful"
[Buddha]
"When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you"
[Susan Sarandon]
Additional quotes pertaining to empathy, kindness and gratitude may be found at Pass It On.com.
My heartfelt thanks to my two friends, A. [شكرا] & L. [Спасибо], for starting the conversation a few weeks back and sharing resources.