Can appreciating another person change the world?

The Love and Kindness Initiative began when I learned my cousin was one of the eleven people killed in the 27 October 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. According to the many articles I’ve read about him and the things I’ve heard about him from family members, he was a wonderful man.

I wish I’d known him. I’d moved away from my hometown when I was a teenager, and I’d only met him a few times.

Why would the death of someone who was essentially a stranger to me profoundly change my path, inspiring me to push myself out of my comfort zone to grow The Love and Kindness Initiative?

It’s more than his being killed in the neighborhood in which I grew up. It’s more than his being killed in the synagogue in which I’d had my wedding rehearsal. The older married couple killed in the mass shooting wed and died in the same chapel that had housed my wedding rehearsal. It’s even more than knowing a member of my cherished family had been killed.

My life experiences have taught me that loving is the only positive response to anything that isn’t love. I’ve heard others call hatred the opposite of love. I respectfully disagree. I’ve heard others call apathy the opposite of love. I respectfully disagree. The opposite of love is fear. Love is the greatest healer I have met. Has fear ever healed anything in your life?

I didn’t think so.

Look, I used to think I was here to do something great. I used to think I was here to do something only I could do. Did you or do you also think you are here to do something great? I’ll bet you’re right! If you’re like me, I’ve done things others have admired, and I’m proud of having done these things.

Who knew the great thing I am currently doing is something you and everyone else can do every bit as well as me?

I hope you will join me in this great work. I’m looking for and celebrating the light of love in those I meet. I’m looking for and celebrating the light of love in those I used to know. I’m looking for and celebrating the light of love in those I know well, and I’m looking for and celebrating the light of love in those I know casually.

I thank people for their smiles. I thank people for their kindness. I thank people for shining their light. I thank people for sharing their open hearts, their willingness to help others, and their choosing to be transparently vulnerable and humble.

Sometimes I apologize to people from my past for having hurt them because I didn’t know what I didn’t know way back when. Sometimes I reach out to people from my past, thanking them for making a positive difference in the life of someone they never knew they’d helped.

I’ve walked door to door in my community. I’ve sent emails, text messages and Facebook messages (when I was still on Facebook). I’ve talked to people I’ve met at the dollar store, and I’ve talked to people with whom I haven’t spoken in many years. Some people understand why I’m doing what I’m doing. Others don’t appear to understand.

I’m not doing this to elicit any specific personal response. I’m doing this because my heart tells me it’s the right thing for me to do.

I’m not here to be a role model, a hero, or a star. It’s about my doing my best to be one of many Johnny Appleseeds of Love. If you so choose, you can be another Johnny Appleseed of Love. Pass it on!

I love seeing peoples’ eyes light up when someone acknowledges them for something wonderful they did years ago, something they may have forgotten they did. I love seeing kind people realize that, even if they feel like a quarter of a grain of sand on an endless beach, they are making a powerful difference in our transitional world. I love seeing people understand that someone sees them and appreciates all the good they bring to those they meet.

I never expected to hear so many people volunteering to carry their own version of The Love and Kindness Initiative into the world. I never expected to hear so many people tell me I’m making a positive difference in the world, and I never expected to hear so many people urge me to please keep doing what I am doing. And I certainly never expected to hear the recently widowed partner of a dear friend, someone who never discussed or even acknowledged receiving spiritual guidance, tell me, “The time is right for you to do what you are doing. What you are doing is very, very important.”

I know what little me is doing holds the potential to impact the world in a much more meaningful way when many of us join together to say “Thank you” to our people. The more people who join with me, the more good we can do.

I hope with all my heart that reading this page motivates you to join me in bringing The Love and Kindness Initiative to the people in your life.

If you want me to bring The Love and Kindness Initiative to your group, please fill out the contact form on this website. I’ve got lots of great stories, stories that are waiting to be shared with people who are ready to do their own versions of what I am doing.

Are you in?

If so, let’s talk.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Let’s change the world together.

Sheryl Hirsch-Kramer 21 January 2019