This month’s theme is “reaching out with kindness and love”. During our discussion with students through our programming, we reiterate that there are so many ways to reach out to friends, family, and even people we don’t know.
I love to tell the story about a night when my daughter Gabrielle was out with a friend having dinner just a couple of months after Zachary died. As you can imagine, she was feeling broken and struggling in those early days of grief. Thank goodness she had a safe and caring person to spend that evening with. When she left the restaurant, she looked down and there was a rock with the following written on it, “You are stronger than you think. Pass it on.”
I always ask students, “Who do you think put the rock there”. I’ve gotten some very creative answers! The answer is…it doesn’t matter! Someone thought enough to sit down, put a positive message on a rock for someone else to find, hoping it would make an impact. Little did they know the great impact it would make. Gabrielle still has that rock from the night shortly after Zach’s death. It is a reminder to her that she IS stronger than she thinks and contagious kindness does exist.
Throughout the years, Kid in the Corner has now made thousands of rocks with positive messages left out for others to find. The back of the rocks are marked with the hashtag #zachslegacy and occasionally people who find them will post the hashtag along with a picture of the rock they found that positively impacted them.
I challenge you to decorate a rock and leave it out in the community for someone to find. Then, go back a few days later and see if it is gone. It’s a great feeling to know that by reaching out with intentional love and kindness, even if it’s done anonymously, can have such a positive impact. If you are not sure what to write on your rock, think about what you might like to see on a rock if you were the one walking down the street. Never forget the amazing impact you can have after reaching out to someone with kindness and love!