Kindness from Florida, by way of Germany

By the time I received this notebook I was a Fulbright Scholar from Germany studying at UNF in Jacksonville, Florida, from August 2011 until May 2012. I know James Harrell from a Fulbright Conference in Berlin and a later meeting in Prague.

This book has nothing to do with whether you are a Fulbrighter or you know James or not. It is about kindness and I think James’ idea is great, so let’s spread it! I have to admit it took me some time to spread some Karma worth writing about, so I made up a plan that will be fulfilled after this notebook has reached the next person:

During my time in Jacksonville I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the differences between Germany and the USA. There are plenty of things that Germans can learn from Americans and vice versa. One of the things I didn’t like about studying at UNF was that it was incredibly expensive. High expenses make sense where they are justified but here and there it appeared to me that money wasn’t going to the right institutions. One day I sold a book at UNF book store which I bought used for 90 Dollars. They offered me 15 Dollars.

Since that book had already been used a couple times I imagined how I would find it back at UNF book store for 90 Dollars the next week; and guess what happened? Not only did this incident “spread some bad karma” but also reflected my observation that some institutions on campus are not there in order to foster and help students, but to get their money.

End of the story: I want to spread kindness and at the same time call people’s attention to the problem so I decided to donate a book that is used in my physics lecture to the society of physics students (SPS). The SPS will go into class at the beginning of next semester and do an auction on the book. The return should be spent on a barbeque for the class.

Cheers,
Lars"

Some Christmas Kindness 12-24-2011

The CMU-Specific Karma Diary has a second post!  Way to go, my fellow nerds!

Often times, people go about their daily lives and rarely take notice to those who work to make our lives easier, better, and safer.  It's not that we don't care; it's just that we often take these actions for granted.  For my random act of kindness, I wanted to show that we actually do notice, and we do appreciate their hard work.  My apartment complex has a group of security guards who keep our apartment safe and offer help to those who need it.  They generally stay in a guard shack by the entrance of the garage.  It's always nice to walk home and see a guard welcome you back in with a smile and wave.  I thought it would be nice to return the favor to them by showing my appreciation.  Keeping with the holiday spirit, I put together a gift basket full of Asian goodies for the guards to share and wrote them a Christmas card telling them thanks for all that they do.  It's not much, but I hope this gesture shows them that their actions do not go unnoticed.

Warm wishes,

Lenny

12-13: Here's to the Brothers of Sigma

I am a very proud brother of the Pennsylvania Theta branch of Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national social fraternity.  Why am I so proud to be an alumnus?  Well, they emphasize being scholars, leaders, athletes, and gentlemen.  To me, that seems pretty good and kindness definitely fits in to the SigEp mission.

This holiday season, I decided that I would take advantage of the super low-cost of shipping with USPS and make some care packages for my fraternity brothers...especially those that I haven't been able to see in several years.  I made an epic amount of baked goods---gingerbread men, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cups, cupcakes, fudge, etc. and put them in the USPS "if it fits, it ships" boxes.

I shipped them off to four different clusters of SigEps, namely people in New York City, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, and Mississippi.  Every single one of my brothers is exceptionally amazing, but I decided to motivate my little brother in Mississippi with a karma diary.

Every day, my little brother is fighting to close the achievement gap through Teach for America.  As I mentioned before, I have a soft spot for teachers, so I definitely try to help in any way that I can.  Unfortunately, distance preludes some of the direct action that I'd like to take, so I'm mainly there for moral support.

To me, there is nothing more rewarding than doing a random act of kindness and reflecting on all of the privileges that we have.  Thus, I hope that he gets a similar joy from receiving the karma diary....and 5 lbs of cookies.

Happy Holidays!
-James

11-12: A MidWesterner's Take

I am a yinzer proper.  I have no qualms about admitting the fact the fact that I didn't realize that "slippy" wasn't a word until my second year of university.  I'm okay with it.  One thing that Pittsburgh teaches us, is that Philadelphia is a horrible, horrible place to be, filled with desolation and despair.

Unfortunately, I think that my childhood musings were incorrect.  Especially, as my karma diary is making it all over Philadelphia!  In our third venture of the city, we hear from "A" who is a Midwestern transplant that is fighting to bring those values to the East Coast.

Three cheers for A!  Three more for kindness!

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Nov. 12, 2011

I’ve given quite a bit of thought to the subject of kindness lately.  You see, a couple of years ago, I moved from the Midwestern United States to the East coast.  This was a very large culture shock for me, because it doesn’t appear that the same standards of kindness apply out here.  It just seems that kind acts such as holding the door open for someone and every day conversations with strangers are things that are just done in the Midwest.  I’ve been told that we seem overly friendly and perhaps, not genuine, but I think these every day small acts of kindness are so important that they should not be overlooked.

It is because of this, that I try to make sure I do kind acts every day; holding the door or elevator open for people, telling strangers on the street that their bags are open and they are about to lose all of their papers, etc. Sometimes, it seems important to spend hours talking to friends who are hurting or have problems that need a friendly and non judgmental ear.

However, this wonderful journal idea has inspired me to take this kindness one step further.  Tomorrow, I will help out my church’s religious education program in making Christmas ornaments for under privileged youth to receive books for the holidays.

-A

11/11/11: For Oneself

I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit worried that my karma diaries had died off and that everyone forgot about them.  But, then I got an amazing e-mail from Amy.

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“Kindness can easily get lost,” as James said — but especially kindness to oneself. As someone who is consistently dedicated to walking out of the door with a smile, sometimes the smile in my mirrored reflection at home can get lost. I still imagine all the ways I live privileged because others don’t, how when I eat too much, others must eat less. I’ve always seen myself so intricately connected to everyone and everything, like we are all trying to stay in balance in life’s game of tug of war. It was only until later in university where I realized how this is true on such a larger, economical scale, that when I buy cheap clothes, it’s because people in another country are providing cheap labor in conditions unfathomable to my suburban-grown mind. I know, I know, it all seems so cliché, to come from so much and dedicate your life to trying to help others in far away lands, it’s so easy to fetishize and idealize helping like that and forget those around you as well as yourself. But what I’ve come to realize the last couple years is that, yes, it is important to keep a larger, global picture in mind, but there is just as much needed on a local level. And even more than that, on a personal level. If one lives a life stressed, angry, out of balance, I truthfully believe it effects the entire world. It’s like the butterfly effect or a landslide, and it’s every moment in everything you do. Everything I do. So, today, when I woke up feeling that pit in my stomach where I just can’t face getting out of bed because of all the things that need to be done, all the people that are relying on me, all those pressures, all those moments in which I feel are speeding faster than that quick cusp of a moment where the sun dives beneath the skyline, I realized that this morning, I need to do something kind for myself. I woke up today, I made myself a beautiful breakfast full of vegetables and whole foods, I went to yoga, I came home and here I am: infinitely more centered and more connected to myself. And for me, that is my act of kindness that is most important act in my universe this moment.

To love others starts with loving oneself, to help others, starts with helping oneself. To be kind to the world is to treat oneself first with the same patience and kindness. We are all connect, kindness travels, it travels fast. I love you.

PS — creating three mores of these notebooks and will pass them on. Love ya, James!

Amy

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I am so impressed with Amy's action of self-kindness.  Too often we stress about things that are trivial.  Take Amy's advice: take a moment for yourself and smile. 

Oct 27: Karma Bum

Exciting news: my very first guest post from someone I don't know!  Amazing!

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I thought a lot about what to do, but in the end was inspired by Ms. Christine Fallabel (I think the girl could inspire a pile of dirt). She told me a story about a little girl who was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  The girl really wants to attend Camp Setebaid, a summer wonderland of sorts for kids with type 1 diabetes, but her family can't afford to send her.  The camp helps to teach kids how to manage their diabetes, but more importantly gives them a sense of community and makes them feel "normal" as a diabetic.

Chrissy is on a mission to raise the funds necessary to send this girl to camp, and I felt like I would take the opportunity to do my part.  I made the first donation towards sending this girl to camp, and I feel great about it.  

Keep the love and giving flowing brother.

Thanks for the inspiration,
Miles

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If you are interested in donating to Christine's endeavor, comment on her blog and she'll be happy to talk to you about it.  And for the next kind person, I look forward to hearing about your adventure!

October 19: For Coworkers

As I said in my last entry, campaign season is tough for the politicos scampering around your local neighborhood.  Since I am focusing on making my world a bit of a better place, I decided that I would continue to help the stressed.  More importantly, I was going to help the stressed stay healthy.  Kind of.

Because I get worried about how people eat, I decided to make a healthy lunch for my crew.  I tapped off that healthy lunch with an unhealthy, but pretty amazing designer cupcake.

Designer cupcake?  Yep, I schlepped over the money for Maggie and Molly's famous red velvet rose cupcakes and they were every bit as amazing as you might think.  I would never purchase such a luxury for only myself---and would never normally think to do it for work colleagues.  So, it was definitely an act of kindness.


















And, with cupcakes in my belly I sent off this karma journal to one of my amazing friends from Eastern Europe.  Let's see what this California girl can do for kindness.

Only good things,
James