I had a special opportunity last week to witness something I would say is highly unusual these days.
I spent a couple of hours hanging out with Plato schools kindergarten teacher Amy Hathaway, about 20 kids in her class, a high school senior and a few ladies volunteering their time to a fine cause. They were showing me what the “Kindness Konnection” is all about, a project Hathaway launched early in the school year that is now a surprising and renowned trait of the small community in northwest Texas County.
The concept is pretty simple: With guidance from the older folks, the kids mail out letters featuring both cheerful coloring work and wording to people all over the U.S. who might need a boost, visit elderly “friends” around Plato and pick up trash during those outings as a positive contribution to the community. Watching those aspects of the project being executed put me in a rare place – one of joyful comfort and elated satisfaction.
It’s amazing, really, the way this group of very young boys and girls conduct themselves as a unit, focused on a particular goal of sharing tenderness and friendship. They exhibit courtesy and respect to everyone they come in contact with, from Hathaway to the old people whose homes they visit to their peers around them.
I quite literally marveled at Hathaway’s relationship with her students. At a moment’s notice, she’ll call out a request or command and the whole bunch reacts like a school of fish, without dissention or rebellion.
When the kids arrive at a “friend’s house,” a love-fest ensues, with smiles abounding on both young and old faces. In many cases, gifts are presented and received, and in every case, about 20 hugs are exchanged.
When the kids happen across a smashed soda can or some other form of garbage as they make their way from one stop to another, someone yells out “trash alert!” and everyone surrounds the doomed piece of litter until it is snatched by a claw tool and bagged for disposal. It’s funny, but it’s also quite eye-opening to observe them so enthusiastically pursue the beautification of their surroundings.
What’s more, Hathaway’s class spends a great deal of its time on the project; they’ve sent out more than 100 letters so far this year (with many more will follow) and they have a regular route around town that includes numerous friends who look forward to their visits. I was only around for a relatively brief portion of a day, but it was easy to tell that because of their involvement in the project, kindness, respect and love are familiar, natural and even routine to these children, and it all rubs off on the people they meet in an obviously favorable manner.
How fortunate they are to be given such direction and what a pleasure it was to enjoy so much goodwill. It was like I had sailed to an island of kindness in a sea of tumult.
I even got to speak with several of the kids one-on-one, because they came up to me and took the initiative to begin conversations. I loved hearing what they had to say about themselves, the project and various other subjects they felt led to bring up. Each one of them was so friendly and polite – and well-spoken considering their age.
As I soaked up the warmth and decency I was surrounded by throughout my visit, I couldn’t help but think about how the whole situation was so Biblically correct. Sharing kindness is all over God’s Word, and its positive merits and ramifications are promoted by King Solomon, the Apostles Paul and Peter and many other writers.
What a shame that such benevolent behavior is so scarce that finding it being practiced seems so remarkable. But what a wonderful treat it was to discover that it actually exists in practice at all.
Hathaway won’t take any credit, but deserves plenty. She got an idea, felt a calling, had a vision and something extraordinary manifested in way even she couldn’t have imagined at the outset.
I may never have known about the Kindness Konnection had I not been advised by a friend of mine with a girl in Hathaway’s class. I’m glad I got the tip; this set of moments touched me way down deep and it turned out to be one of those work assignments I’ll never forget.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
