Wellbeing

Wellbeing Literacy Leader - Emily Murcott

Kindness

2020 was filled with challenges. No doubt 2021 will also do the same. Along with the challenges it brought us uncertainty, and whether you believe it or not, we also developed some positives, such as our resilience. Although you may not recognise it now, I am sure you will at some stage recognise this in your children, especially when they are faced with adversity. There has been growth and development and, when you look at it from a different perspective, many positives.

I encourage you to recognise a challenge and try to “flip it”. Try to see some positives from the adversity or challenge, instead of the negative. It may be an after-thought, when you are rethinking what happened throughout your day. By “flipping it,” I mean that you can see some good from the situation or try and make the situation the best you can. 

I read a wonderful story the other day about a lady wanting to make change from a situation which was not positive. She was able to "flip it" and she made sure some good came about it. I would love you to read and then discuss with your son or daughter about the impact that this mother had on the man at the tip and her daughter. We can all learn from this story. Enjoy.

 “I need your help this morning,” my mother said to me early one Saturday when I was 13 years old. As my mother hardly ever asked for help, I knew that to argue for another hour of sleep would have been pointless. As I was getting up, she said, “Be in the car as soon as you can. You do not need to shower.” Before I had a chance to ask where we were heading, we pulled into our local McDonald’s. This morning was off to a very odd start. My mother did not often ask for help, and under no circumstances did she eat at McDonald’s. After she placed an order for a large collection of breakfast foods and handed the bag over for me to hold, I asked her what exactly we were doing. Her reply still makes me laugh. She looked at me rather sternly, I thought at the time, and said, “We are going to the dump.” Okay, we were going to the city landfill with a bag full of foods we did not eat, very early on a Saturday morning, to help my Mum. As if this made any sense!

 We pulled into the dump, and she took the bag of food and walked up to the young man who was working the dump site alone. I listened as she said to him, “Here is a nice breakfast for you. I hope that this will make your day a little better, so that when the next person asks you for instructions, you will be a little more kind and pleasant, a lot more helpful, and that maybe you can return a smile.” I stood there speechless. Many years passed before the impact and significance of my mother’s actions fully set in, but even then, at 13, I knew I had just witnessed a kindness that could change the world.

The values modelled that day by my mother are thoughtfulness, kindness, compassion, and change. My mum wasn’t being kind because she was returning the sentiment. She was hoping for change. We all have lofty goals of correcting the world’s most fundamental injustices and oppressive systems. We want to initiate large-scale change and watch the positive outcomes unfold. In our daily routines, during the busiest parts of our days, we often forget the most basic ideas - that the most simple and easiest acts of compassion and kindness create change. We get busy with errands, and we get busy trying to change the world, and in doing both, we simply forget. We forget to be kind always. We forget to be helpful. And we forget to smile.

So, I ask, remember the impact of simple kindness, and make it a priority. Let’s change the world one smile at a time!

As I was teaching this morning, two boys (Austin and Riley) came to my classroom door. Austin's class mates rushed to open the door and let Austin in, then Riley made his way to his class; he was a few minutes late to class. 

Afterwards, I discovered that whilst Riley was aware that he was late to class, he stopped to assist and support Austin make his way to class.  It is so wonderful to hear of such kindness and compassion from our students. Even more so, when it is from the heart. Riley was not doing this to receive any acknowledgement or pat on the back, he did it because he was being kind and and he knew it was the right thing to do. Integrity. Riley was not prompted, nor asked to help, he saw that Austin needed some assistance and he just responded. This is a true ACT OF KINDNESS. 

People can perform kindness, but it is a true ACT OF KINDNESS when you recognise that someone needs something and you act upon it then and there. Thankyou for making Austin's day Riley, and thankyou for making mine!

If you see any acts of kindness or know of someone who has performed an act of kindness within our community, please let me know via email (emily.murcott@education.vic.gov.au) and we will give a shoutout to them in the next newsletter.