Undiscovered Pathways

What is ‘The Ripple Effect’? Any grown adult has some times in their childhood been by a lake or a pond and picked up a rock or a pebble and threw it into the water. There was a thump and we watched the water form ripples. As a child, we find it fascinating and as an adult, we find it peaceful because it takes us back to a simpler time.

Per the Oxford Dictionary, a ripple effect is the “continuing and spreading results of an event or action”. Just like anything else, ripple effects can be positive or negative and involve many disciplines.

Ripple Effect – Kindness Call to Action

Going away speeches resonate with us for a reason. In 2023, James Corden, the host of the Late Late Show on CBS, decided to leave the show after 8 years to spend more time with his family. As part of his speech, he asked the audience and television viewers to please make the change of increasing kindness with each other. He explained that kindness has decreased significantly after going through the pandemic.

That part of his speech stuck with me and he hit the nail on the head. Kindness has taken a dip and t-shirts have sprung up saying slogans such as “Just Be Kind” or something similar. If it makes it to a t-shirt, we must need help!

Ripple Effect – Kindness From the Mouths of Babe

Recently, I had a conversation with my 8 year old granddaughter. She asked me what I would change about the future. Yeah, I think she is older than 8! Recently becoming a cancer survivor, I answered that I wished that everyone would be healthy. While she was asking my husband, I decided to change my answer. I told her that I wanted to change my answer to have everyone be kind. She asked me why?

I explained that there are a lot of people who are not kind. The following was my plan for the future:

• Kindness in your home—
  • Everyone needs to be kind to their family members.
• Kindness at school or work—
  • Everyone needs to display kindness to your school mates or your coworkers.
• Kindness to people you meet—
  • Kindness needs to be displayed to people you meet when you go shopping at the store or any place that you go to besides home and school/work.

After explaining my plan, she told me that it is the ripple effect that she learned about in school. I loved that she knew about the ripple effect! Great job to her teachers! Easier said than done, right? Check out the following for some ideas in making the plan come true!

Ripple Effect Ideas

Kindness At Home

• Offer a helping hand.
• Listen to each other.
• Compliment others.
• Say “Thank You “and “I’m Sorry”.
• Care about one another.

Kindness At School

• Holding the classroom door for classmates.
• Carry a friend’s lunch tray/school books while they are on crutches.
• Sharing classroom resources.
• Gathering assignments for a friend who is absent.
• Help a new student find their classroom and way around the school.

Kindness at Work

• Always say “Good Morning” and “Thank You”.
• Leave motivational notes in key places.
• Send a compliment through the chat for an employee’s work in remote jobs.
• Compliment a co-worker’s work to a boss.
• Listen to a co-worker.

Kindness Everywhere

• Put coins in an expired parking meter.
• Buy a gift card and hand it to someone on your way out of the store.
• Write a thank you note to your mail carrier.
• Pay for the meal in the car behind you in the drive-thru.
• Write a positive comment on a blog. 😉😉

In conclusion, we all have a part to play in increasing kindness whether you are a child or adult. As adults, we need to model that behavior for the children. You never know who will benefit from your ripple effect!!