The face of Astrid Granciano, a student at Alliance Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science Faculty (Stern MASS) in Los Angeles, reflects joy and positivity. She is one of approximately 800 students who participated in the organization Deem Kindness’s annual kindness summit, at the City Market Social House on San Pedro Street.
“I feel like I’m very nice to other people,” the 15-year-old said. “My parents taught me to be like that, to be kind and not rude to anyone.”
Astrid and the other students from 13 schools, from sixth grade to high school, participated in motivational leadership activities and put together bags with different necessities for the homeless in Los Angeles.
Like everyone, the criminology major tries to inspire young people to make a difference in their community.
“I think there are more good people in the world than bad people,” he said. “But, those who are bad, somehow affect others.”
Maximiliano Aguilar (Maxi), a 17-year-old student at Bishop Mora Salesian Excessive Faculty, thinks the same way.
“I am a person who likes to help people. I like to interact with others, so that everyone hears that they have a voice and can live in peace.”
“Maxi” recognizes that, in the world he has lived in, there are many people who do not understand others, are racist and discriminate against them.
“In my thinking, I think that we can end up talking to each person,” he analyzed. “You can’t fight fire with fire; you better talk to someone so everyone understands what they don’t like about a person.”
Both Maximiliano and Astrid consider that the treatment of immigrants in the United States is not fair.
“I think it is very wrong that they treat immigrants like this; they, like my parents, came to this country to offer us a better life,” Astrid commented. “They should support them with love, kindness and respect.”
“Obviously there is no fair treatment with people,” added “Maxi.” “I don’t like what they are doing; I think immigrants are working hard, building houses or working hard to do something for their family…if I could, I would help them get the papers properly and I would focus on everyone, on the humanity of the people.”
They expand in the country
Josué Arias, director of the Deem Kindness organization, told La Opinión that his mission is to promote children to be kind and respectable, following the example of the founder, Brian Williams, a fourth-degree black belt in martial arts who calls himself the “Ninja of Kindness.”
“Our founder and a friend started this program to inspire kids to be kind as a way to stop bullying,” Arias said. “We know that this is a big problem in schools and in our curriculum we have programs to inspire and educate children so that they do not harass each other.”
Although the Web is still young, there are new terms in the language such as “cyberbullying,” “digital resilience,” and “bullycide,” which characterizes those people who have taken their own lives as a result of bullying behavior.
Data from the Cyberbullying Research Center reveals that 34 percent of students ages 12 to 17 in the United States have been victims of cyberbullying, or approximately one in four students. What’s more, 20 percent of suicides among American teens and young adults are related to problems stemming from bullying.
Suicides among young people
The top 10 states with the highest prevalence of suicides among people ages 10 to 24, for various causes, including bullying and cyberbullying, are: Original Hampshire, Oregon, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Michigan, Washington, Massachusetts, Kansas and Indiana. California ranks 37th, according to an analysis by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Having started with a local kindness program, Deem Kindness has spread to various school districts in California and other states, including Nevada, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, and Utah.
“We have more than 300,000 children involved who have taken the promise to be kind,” said Josué Arias. “We are at an explosion point because we know that kindness is necessary and it is a necessary message that we must leave as a legacy.”
The program seeks to prevent bullying through educational curricula. Today, the program includes more than 300,000 children in California and other states such as Florida, Texas and Utah.
Currently, more than 800 children from 13 schools, from sixth grade to high school, participate in activities such as putting together bags for the homeless in Los Angeles, with the goal of inspiring young people to make a difference in their community.
Two girls with a conscience
Alianny Fuentes, 13, and Natalie Salgado, 17, want to make a difference in their lives and the community.
Alianny, a seventh grade student at Extera 2d Avenue Center Faculty, said that being kind has brought her good friends and an excellent relationship with her parents, siblings and friends.
“You always have to be kind to them, because some people can be cruel, and if they act cruelly, it seems that they are suffering,” the little girl declared. “If I saw that someone was harassing another person, I would tell them to stop and be nice.”
“What do people do? Bully! What do you think they do? Call them names, treat them badly, shame them for their looks. That’s not right,” he added.
But why do you think it happens?
“It’s probably because someone treated them badly first and now they want to treat the other person badly; their feelings are hurt…, and they feel lost.”
For her part, Natalie Salgado explained that she is kind “because I let my personality express itself freely. They also tell me that I am kind because I make sure that everyone feels included and that no one feels marginalized.”
For her, a student at Roosevelt Excessive Faculty, in East Los Angeles, the benefit of being kind and kind, instead of being a bully at school, comes with the benefit of being able to make more friends, being outgoing and feeling good about herself.
“If you are a bully, it is obvious that there will not be many people willing to help you when you need help. You will not have anyone to have your back when you need it,” he emphasizes.
“Today I will make the world better than I made it yesterday” was the closing message from Brian Williams, co-founder of Deem Kindness, which resonated strongly in the hearts and minds of hundreds of Los Angeles students.
“Today we’re going to do something that allows us to go to bed tonight thinking we’ve made a difference. It may not be something big; it may be something small,” he said. “The most likely thing is that it is something completely free.”
Williams’ goal was for kids to find the important word that can change their own lives and those of others with the simple act of saying, “Hello.”
Everyone say: “Hello!” It is up to us to take action; But, to achieve this, we will need to develop some skills. The first skill is this: everyone say out loud: “Be brave!”
This required young people to stand up and take action.
And the last skill: “Be kind!” This involves not only seeing opportunities, but also daring to leave a comfort zone.
Earlier, Brian Williams described a series of acts of kindness that were free, including calling on people to donate tennis shoes for children in need.
An example was that, through Deem Kindness, 10,000 pairs of tennis shoes were collected, when the initial goal was 5,000, and they were delivered to children in Kenya, on the African continent.
In that nation, a boy named Peter had no shoes. Generation an orphan child. That detail prevented him from being registered at school.
But with the shoes on, Peter ran a mile in three minutes and 58 seconds. Quite a record. Only four high school students in the United States had covered that distance in four minutes.
When Brian Williams broke the news, government officials asked to see Peter. He thought he was in trouble. He went to the principal’s office, head down, and those gentlemen handed him an envelope containing two important documents: a passport and a letter of invitation for him to join the Kenyan Olympic team.
“Peter went from an orphanage to the stage of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics (1988).”
Apart from the flag bearer who was carrying something in his hands, a young man from the team was carrying his lucky slippers in his hands.
“I have no idea who donated those sneakers. I have no idea where they came from. They came out of someone’s closet. That’s the most incredible part of this story,” Williams said. “That unknown person who gave the tennis shoes only wanted to perform a simple act of kindness.”
“Those sneakers ended up on Peter’s feet. And when they got to his feet, they allowed him to go to school. They allowed him to go to the Olympics.”
While Williams was giving his talk, Peter was in Ghana, touring the entire African continent, showing off his sneakers and reminding kids to never give up on their dreams.”
Brian Williams thinks that when someone performs an act of kindness, it sends a ripple through the world. It is not always possible to see how far that wave reaches.
“We simply have to have faith that it will reach the right person on the day they need it most. Our job as human beings is to generate as many of those waves as possible,” the speaker emphasized.
“Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make the biggest difference,” said Williams, who visited Peter in his dorm room.
On a table he saw a note card placed right on his mirror. On that card he said the following: “Today I will make the world better than it was yesterday.”
Peter reads that sentence every day.
Instantly, Brian Williams felt transported back in time. He remembered that university professor who tried to sell him the idea that, to succeed, you need money, contacts and resources.
However, he was in a dorm room, next to an orphan who had no money, no contacts, no resources, but who still had the audacity to believe he could change the world.
Therefore, he invited the approximately 800 students to say with full conviction: “Today I will make the world better than it was yesterday.”
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