Kindness Campaign

Gravitas: The Destructive Consequences of Unexamined Religious and Spiritual Beliefs

A series of blogs by Barry K. Weinhold, Ph.D.

The Legacy of Violence

      We live in one of the most violent cultures in the world and we are largely unaware of this fact. We reacted with horror at the recent shooting of a member of Congress who was speaking at a public gathering in Arizona as something unusual and out of character with what we have chosen to believe about our democracy.

Rather than being unseen, violence in American life has become both visible in its pervasiveness and normalized place as a central feature of the dominant and popular culture. We have grown accustomed to luxuriating in a warm bath of cinematic blood, as young people and adults alike are seduced with an endless stream of violence that runs through the endless production of video games, extreme sports and the nonstop production of gory Hollywood blockbusters.

The celebration of violence and torture travels all too easily from fiction to real life, with the emergence in the past few years of a proliferation of "bum fight" videos on the Internet, increased acts of bullying in schools and the workplace and young boys investing in a mode of masculinity organized around pummeling each other for sport. The culture of violence mimics cinematic violence as the agents of abuse by indulging in actual forms of violence and then further celebrating the barbarity by posting it on the Web, mimicking the desire for fame and recognition while voyeuristically consuming their own violent cultural productions.

In addition, we cannot look at this culture of violence as a recent trend and reflects on the spiritual and religious history of this planet. For thousands of years violence has been used to resolve any conflict, culminating in the darkest spiritual event of the twentieth century: the Holocaust. 

Any serious Western theological thinker of the broad biblical history of the Judeo-Christian tradition who does not place the Holocaust at the center of any reflection on human and divine nature, is in denial. It is an event whose enormous darkness overshadows any other in challenging our assumptions about what people are like and what motivates them. The Holocaust has shown the moral and spiritual hollowness at the core of Western civilization and for many confirmed their darkest suspicions about human nature.

What we see, by taking a longer historical view of human nature, is a human tendency toward unspeakable violence has been there for almost all of our recorded history. It is hard to argue with much moral certainty that our consciousness has evolved very much at all during the time we have been on this planet.

The Effects of Hidden and Unhealed Developmental Traumas

In our books on Conflict Resolution  (Conflict Resolution: The Partnership Way, 2009) and Developmental Trauma (Healing Developmental Trauma, 2011), we discuss the effects of hidden and unhealed developmental shock, trauma and stress. 

After 26 years of research on this topic, we have concluded that these events cause block the evolution of people’s consciousness. We identified developmental shock, trauma and stress to include those subtle disconnects and unintentional acts of neglect that even most therapists likely would not consider as traumatic to children. Our research found the exact opposite. Those events that were traumatic, but did not rise to the level the visible lens of the trauma “radar scope” lie dormant until they are reenacted in our adult relationships. These events are the more difficult to identify and heal than acts of abuse because “nothing seemed to happen.”

     These early childhood events, if not identified and healed, present insurmountable limits to how much we can evolve as humans. We see that these unhealed developmental shocks, traumas or stresses continue to trigger memories back to the earlier unhealed events long after they have been forgotten. They cause present time conflicts to occur over and over in our lives without resolution. We call these intractable conflicts.

     The meta-theory that provides a foundation for our work, Developmental Systems Theory, posits that any essential developmental process that is not completed will stall evolution in all human systems. The main reason these essential developmental processes, like secure bonding, do not get completed is the presence of hidden and unhealed developmental shocks, trauma or stresses. All human systems have constructed barriers to prevent the awareness of these unseen forces.

     In individuals, the major barrier is their fear of having to again feel the scary feelings they felt in the original unhealed shock, trauma or stress. They attempt to avoid situations where they might have to feel these unpleasant feelings again by medicating themselves though some “addiction.” This includes alcohol, drugs, smoking, eating, having sex, exercising, shopping, working long hours or any other way they can distract themselves. The actual definition of an “addiction” is a behavior designed to avoid some perceived “bad” or unwanted feeling.

     These desperate attempts to avoid any situation that might cause a reenactment of some dreaded feelings stemming from a past event leave us with unhealed symptoms of developmental shock, trauma or stress. Generally, when we resort to addictive behaviors to avoid feeling these feelings, it takes more of the addictive behavior to ward off the feelings over time. Thus the addictive behaviors and the attempts to cover them up to make them seem “normal” eventually take over people’s lives.

     Thus these actions are also responsible for the greed and drive for power that grips so many people. We are frantically trying to fill some empty and anxious place within ourselves by accumulating possessions, often many more than we could ever use. All we care about is not feeling the unpleasant feelings we felt when these earlier events took place, whatever it takes to make that happen. As you can see, we have lots of addictive ways to protect ourselves from these feelings. We also attempt to push away these feelings by blaming others for our problems and projecting the effects of our unseen traumas and conflicts onto others (“You caused me to be upset, it is your fault that I did what I did. I was only trying to protect myself.”)

Distorted Belief Systems

     In addition to the fears and hypervigilance people struggle with almost constantly, they generally have serious distortions in their belief system and are easily influenced by mass consciousness beliefs and the latest trends. A good way to tell when you are interacting with someone who is being affected by unseen and unhealed developmental shocks, traumas or stresses is that you cannot use logic to discuss your differences in values or beliefs. In reality, these people have trouble thinking for themselves and can be easily influenced by manipulative spokespersons of whatever they are selling or by attempts to win them over with their fear-based rhetoric.

     This causes them to resort to speaking in “sound bites” that they have heard others say. These people generally do not examine the twists in their beliefs connected with these ideas. In some cases, these people are cut off from any feelings of empathy or compassion toward others. Added to this is a situation is that many of our mainstream institutions that operate on these twisted beliefs are breaking down.

     For example, the financial world almost totally collapsed as a result of a twisted belief that the banks and other financial institutions were too big to fail. In addition, there was a collective belief that banks will police themselves and don’t need any reasonable government regulation that could limit their excesses. Our whole capitalistic economic system is based on the false belief that economic growth is essential to our economic survival, even though at some level we must recognize that excessive consumption is not good for our environment.

     The Christian church, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, has been rocked by scandals involving pedophilia and a massive cover-up by church officials designed to support the twisted belief that the priests must be celibate. The Protestant Church has reverted to radical fundamentalism based on a false belief that the Bible is the direct word of God and must be followed to the letter.

     The whole premise of the “original sin” is a twisted belief that causes people to be dependent an off-planet “God” to forgive them and grant them redemption. Islam and Judaism are no better and have been taken over by radical fundamental false beliefs that seem ludicrous to most clear thinking adults. How can they justify to Muslims that committing suicide and murder because will yield the reward of being serviced by 70 virgins in the next life? Give me a break. Even the belief in being “God’s chosen people” has to be questioned by serious thinking Jews.

     Our schools are failing because of twisted beliefs about how children learn. The institution of marriage is falling apart and affecting the children because of the false belief that parents should know how to parent even though they do not have to have any training to be effective. In addition, there is a common belief that they do not have to identify or heal their childhood traumas in order to avoid not passing them on to their children. Domestic violence is at an all time high as is child abuse, again because of the belief that we don’t have to look at our concealed and unhealed trauma.

     All these signs of breakdown cause the addicted mind supported by these institutions to try harder to maintain their twisted and largely unconscious beliefs, becoming even more desperate. What happens when the addicted mind starts see its familiar supportive institutions fail, is that it redoubles its efforts to hold on to its artificial props. We are hearing more and more references to “restoring the American dream” or “returning to #1.” This creates a culture of narcissism where these mistaken beliefs continue to be supported as the “right way forward.”

     In addition, we are seeing what happens when the facts do not support their beliefs: people make up things that do to support their beliefs. The number of false statements by our elected leaders to support their twisted beliefs has increased tremendously over the past several years.

     For example, 41% of Republican voters who were pooled said they believe that president Obama was born outside of the country and an other 34% said were not sure. For the past two years Republican leaders have encouraged the spread of this kind of false belief in order to support their hold on power and greed. The Big Lie is back and going strong.

     As a result of the twisted beliefs people rely on, ultimately many people experience repeated failures and disappointments in their lives and relationships without understanding why these things are happening to them. They tend to blame what is happening to them on others or situations without looking within for the causes of their misfortune. However, sometimes after repeated failures they do seek help in turning their life around or are forced to examine why these repeated failures are occurring. 

 How To Identify Your Unhealed Developmental Shocks, Traumas & Stresses

If you believe you have unseen and unhealed developmental shocks, traumas or stresses and are interested in identifying and healing your developmental traumas or conflicts, we have found it is necessary for you to do the following:

1. Read one of our books to help you identify the unseen and unhealed developmental shocks, traumas or stresses that are still influencing your life. There are lots of self-inventories in these books to help you identify these unhealed events.

2. Learn to utilize some kind of trauma reduction technique that eventually changes the neural pathways in your brain and body that created sensory distortions as a result of an early shock, trauma or stressor. You will need to create new neural pathways to replace the ones created as a result of early shocks, traumas or stresses. In our Healing Developmental Trauma book, we describe several techniques that have proved successful to heal these traumas.

3. In addition, these tools have to help you clear your mindbody of the memories connected with the early shocks, traumas or stresses. Again, in all the books we mentioned above we describe several tools that have proven successful in clearing these early memories.

4. You will need to change some of your mistaken thoughts and beliefs connected to your early experiences of developmental shock, trauma, and stress. Again, our books describe tools to help you do this.

5.You will need to learn how to re-regulate your emotional responses connected with early developmental shock, trauma or stress. Again, we have created tools to help you learn how to do this.

6.The experience of early developmental shock, trauma or stress can cause you to dissociate and experience an inner split between or among the various inner parts of yourself. We have developed a number of effective tools to help you reconnect any internal splits that are described in our books.

7. The last and perhaps the most important step is to change any of your distorted perceptions of self-other relationship dynamics caused by early developmental shock, trauma or stress. The early shocks, trauma or stresses occur in relationships with the most important people in your life. It is only natural that when your adult relationships get close enough these distorted perceptions will appear. We have created tools that committed couples can use to heal these distortions. Our books describe how a couple might use these tools to help each other heal the effects of early shock, trauma or stress.

 How to Shift Your Consciousness

     We desperately need to shift our collective consciousness, if we are going to survive. We have found that it is possible to utilize your present relationship conflicts as tools for shifting your individual and collective consciousness.

 

I recommend that you consider the following principles:

1.    All unresolved conflicts you presently have are reminders that your conflict resolution strategies are incomplete. They are an opportunity to test the effectiveness of your strategies and make them more effective and complete, not a reason to attack others for their ineffectiveness. Through open dialogue or self-reflection it is often possible to discover how to improve your conflict resolution strategies.

2.    Those with whom you have conflicts are not going away. You have unconsciously drawn them into your life to help you transform some aspect of yourself and possibly to help you identify and heal your developmental traumas. Welcome them as your teachers not as your enemies. The key here is to be able to look for the gift they are bringing you.

3.    Value and utilize your relationships with those you have conflicts with to help you become more whole and integrated by recovering aspects of yourself that you have disowned. Only in genuine, trusting relationships can we hope to recover that which we have disowned.

4.    Accept the plurality of the world and accept the fact that every form of life is permitted and has a purpose. Acceptance of differences and a willing ness to engage those who differ from us in some way is an important strategy for breaking down the tendency of “premature hardening of the categories” between different peoples, races and cultures.

5.    Recognize that your intractable conflicts are doorways to change and transformation. They are an indication that you have undiscovered and unhealed developmental shocks, traumas or stresses. They contain keys to things that are blocking your healing and evolution. Only with a receptive heart and mind can you hope to find the keys in unblock your evolution.

In my next blog I will look at how these mistaken belief that are the effects of unseen and unhealed developmental shocks, traumas or stressors and how they have limited our ability to evolve and shift our consciousness. They clearly keep us stuck in victim consciousness. 

 

The Empathic Civilization

Author Jeremy Rifkin’s a new book, The Empathy Civilization, traces “the empathic evolution of the human race and the profound ways it has shaped our development and will likely decide our fate as a species.” An excellent review of this book is available on Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/only-empathy-can-save-us_b_447685.html?view. You can also go on Twitter and join a discussion thread on this topic at http://twitter.com/JeremyRifkin

Rifkin’s alternative view of evolution is very similar to the evolutionary path that we refer to as LOVEvolution in our new book, Healing Developmental Trauma. This heartful path is characterized by the ability to keep one’s heart open and to give and receive unconditional love.  The concepts of empathy and compassion are at the core of the LOVEvolution path.

Psychologist Carl Rogers once described empathy as the ability  “to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the "as if" condition. Thus, it means to sense the hurt or the pleasure of another as he senses it and to perceive the causes thereof as he perceives them, but without ever losing the recognition that it is as if I were hurt or pleased and so forth.”[9] Rifkin cites the human capacity for empathy as the cornerstone of what he is calling the “Third Industrial Revolution.”

What is the Third Industrial Revolution?

Rifkin describes “The Third Industrial Revolution” as both a distributed energy revolution and a new economic game plan. His visionary plan of the Third Industrial Revolution contains 4 pillars: 1) Developing Renewable Energy Sources, 2) Utilizing Buildings as Positive Power Plants, 3) Creating Hydrogen Storage Technology, and 4) Building Smartgrids and Plug-in Vehicles. He claims, "We have the science and technology to do it, but it will mean nothing unless there is a change in will."

Rifkin says that this new structure will not allow us to limit our notion of extended family to national boundaries in which Americans empathize with fellow Americans, Chinese with Chinese, and so forth. He also says that a truly global biosphere economy will require a global empathic embrace that requires us to think more globally as a species − as homo empathicus − to create an empathic civilization that is energetically embedded or located in our shared biosphere. An example of this global empathic experience is the recent worldwide response to the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Small daily acts of kindness that happen all over the planet are the result of empathy and compassion, but never make the news.

According to Rifkin, this global shift in consciousness is essential if humans are going to survive as a species.
 If our true human nature is Homo empathicus, as both we and Rifkin are suggesting, then it is time to  begin creating new institutions and systems--parenting styles, relationship structures, educational and business models--that truly reflect our true nature.

According to our Developmental Systems Theory, the consciousness in most human institutions is influenced primarily by a second evolutionary track that we call “Developmental Trauma.” The effects of this invisible, compelling, trauma-driven system is disrupting and stalling the evolutionary expansion of all human systems, from individuals, to couples, to parents and families, to all other larger and more complex human structures. It is important that human systems rapidly recognize the devastating impact of hidden and unhealed developmental trauma on their evolution and take steps to heal it. Only then is it possible to shift to Rifkin’s homo empathicus.

Healing Developmental Trauma outlines these two evolutionary pathways and presents practical ways to help microsystems shift from the Developmental Trauma track to the LOVEvolution track of evolution. We and Rifkin believe this shift is essential for the survival of the species.

The Third Industrial Revolution

According to Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution will create a pathway to a post-fossil fuel era. It was the first Industrial Revolution that integrated print and literacy with coal steam and rail travel. The second Industrial Revolution combined the telegraph and telephone with the internal combustion engine and oil.

The core of the Third Industrial Revolution is the integration of distributed energy revolution utilizing the power of computers and renewable energy sources. Rifkin believes everyone can create their own energy, store it, and then distribute it to each other. Rifkin believes that empathy will help us see our common global dilemma. In 25 years, millions of buildings will operate as power plants that load renewable energy. He says, “We will load solar power from the sun, wind from turbines and even ocean waves on each coast. We can also make the power grid of the world smart and intelligent; we call it inter-grid.”

According to Rifkin, millions and millions of people will load power to buildings, store it in the form of hydrogen and distribute energy peer-to-peer; just like digital media and the Internet. The first inter-grids are going up in the United States this year in Houston, TX, Boulder, Colorado, and Southern California. The city of San Antonio, TX is planning a distributed energy program that will make it the largest city in this country to implement this approach. Rifkin has been consulting with European Union countries to actively move on this evolutionary path. Seventeen of the 27 EU countries have begun projects that implement his “Four Pillars” of The Third Industrial Revolution.

What Are the Four Pillars of The Third Industrial Revolution?

Pillar 1: Developing Renewable Energy Sources

Renewable forms of energy — solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, ocean waves, and biomass — make up pillar one of the Third Industrial Revolution. While these energies still account for a small percentage of the global energy mix, they are growing rapidly as governments mandate targets and benchmarks for their widespread introduction into the market and their falling costs make them increasingly competitive. Billions of dollars of public and private capital are pouring into research, development and market penetration, as businesses and homeowners seek to reduce their carbon footprint and become more energy efficient and energy independent.

Pillar 2: Using Buildings as Positive Power Plants

The construction industry is the largest industrial employer in many countries, and buildings are the major contributor to human induced global warming. Worldwide, buildings emit 30 to 40 percent of CO2 emissions and are responsible for consuming 30 to 40 percent of all energy. New technological breakthroughs are making it possible to design and construct buildings that create all of their own energy from locally available renewable energy sources, even re-conceptualizing buildings as "power plants.” In twenty-five years, millions of buildings — homes, offices, shopping malls, industrial and technology parks — will be renovated and constructed to collect and generate energy to provide their own power and produce surplus energy.

Pillar 3: Creating Hydrogen Storage Technology

As renewable energy is intermittent — the sun isn't always shining, the wind isn't always blowing—it is necessary to develop storage methods that will store and convert this energy. Batteries, differentiated water pumping, and other methods can provide some storage capacity. One storage medium, hydrogen, is the universal method to store all forms of renewable energy, for both power generation and transport. Hydrogen is the lightest, most abundant element in the universe, and when used as an energy source, the only by-products are heat and water. Spaceships have been powered by high-tech hydrogen fuel cells for more than 30 years. When renewable energy is abundant, electricity can be used to extract hydrogen from water, and it can be stored for later use.

Pillar 4: Building Smartgrids and Plug-in Vehicles

The fourth pillar has two components: one is updating the current electricity transmission system to a smartgrid. In the same way that people currently produce and share their own information on the Internet, businesses and homeowners will produce and share their own energy. A smart grid makes producing and sharing energy more efficient, reliable, and safe.

The second component is plug-in and hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles that become "power stations on wheels." Since the average vehicle is parked much of the time, when demand for electricity is low, vehicles can be plugged into electricity network to provide power back to the grid. Electric and fuel cell plug-in vehicles become a way to store renewable energy that can be sent back to the power grid in the form of electricity.

We believe that what Rifkin is proposing is entirely possible. Achieving his vision will require that each of us make some sacrifices and also look at exactly what in our lifestyle is unsustainable: the car we drive, the place where we live, the relationships and social structures we create, and how we spend our time and money. We have been driving a hybrid automobile since 2004, car-pooling where possible and have been averaging about 45 miles per gallon, while producing low carbon emissions. Our next car will be a plug-in hybrid that hopefully will get over 100 miles to the gallon.

Building A Sustainable Future

We have worked very hard in our 25+year relationship to heal our developmental traumas, and to keep our hearts open to each other so that we can give and receive unconditional love. Recently, we decided to sell our house that is larger than we really need, and move into an ecovillage in Asheville, NC where we can live more sustainably. We believe that this ecovillage can be a model of what Rifkin is talking about. All of the houses are required to meet the Energy Star requirements for green buildings. When fully operational, the energy systems at the Villages at Crest Mountain will be totally renewable and sustainable, including recycling the Villages’ water and returning power that can be used in a Smartgrid as Rifkin suggests.

 

"Rush To Judgment" Play Examines Cause Of Columbine Tragedy

by Barry K. Weinhold, Ph.D.

Barry K. Weinhold, Director of the Kindness Campaign, has written a play about the systemic nature of the culture of violence and how it has invaded our nation's schools. The play has been written to be performed by high school drama departments or community drama groups. The premise of the play is that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold did not commit suicide at Columbine but are captured and put on trial. The play is a courtroom drama where the testimony and cross-examination of the key witnesses for the prosecution and the defense bring out the various elements of the overall culture of violence that contributed to this tragedy. The audience then becomes the jury that hears the testimony and then votes on the innocence or guilt of these young men.

The purpose of the play is best summed up in a recent public letter of apology written by the parents of Dylan Klebold. Thomas and Susan Klebold wrote, "We are convinced that the only way to truly honor all of the victims of this and other related tragedies is to move clearly and methodically toward an understanding of why they occur, so that we may try to prevent this kind of madness from ever happening again. It is our intention to work for this end, believing that answers are probably within reach, but they will not be simple. We envision a time when circumstances will allow us to join with those who share our desire to understand."

Barry Weinhold, the author of the play, said, "My reason for writing this play is to bring a deeper level of understanding of the culture of violence that exists in this country and the part it played in the Columbine tragedy. I have become very frustrated by the way the mainstream media has handled this and the other recent school shootings. Everything in this play came directly from the media's coverage of the Columbine tragedy and its aftermath. However, no one put the pieces together to help us answer the key questions: 'Why did this happen?' and 'How can we prevent this from happening again?' The play provides the members of the audience with the complex facts in this case and asks them to come up with an answer to these two questions. It involves the audience in a gripping drama that helps them to better understand at a personal level the various elements of the culture of violence that contributed to this tragedy. There is an wise saying that reminds us, 'You can't fix something until you know how it got broken.'"

A short synopsis of the play, including Act I, Scene 1, is included at the top of the page for your review. The play can be purchased by high schools or community drama groups from the Kindness Campaign. In order to make it easier for high schools and community groups to perform this play, when you buy the script you also get (1) the permission of perform the play, (2) the right to make as many copies as you wish for your school or community group, and (3) the right to change or adapt the script. 

If you are interested in having your school or community put on this play, please purchase using our Bookstore on this web site or contact: Barry K. Weinhold, Director of the Kindness Campaign, for further details at 

barryk@weinholds.org 

828-686-1890

Bullying Prevention Policy

PREVENTING BULLYING AND PUT-DOWNS

Barry K. Weinhold, Ph.D.

Download Student Bullying Survey 

Download KC School Quiz- Parents

Objectives of a School Policy on Bullying and Put-Downs

• To create a strong bullying prevention policy enforced by the adults.
• To empower the "silent majority" of students who witness bullying and do nothing.
• Build an effective support system for protecting those who are picked on.
• Develop intervention programs to change the school climate so bullying is not possible.
• Recognize that bullies feel scared. Create ways to help bullies deal with their fears.
• Develop ways to help bullies experience positive social rewards.
• Survey students/teachers on their perceptions of bullying and put-downs.

Guidelines for Creating a School-Wide Bullying Prevention Program

• Start with an in-service for the entire faculty and staff. 
• Use results of the student/teacher surveys as part of the in-service.Involve parents.  
•  Hold meetings; send home information on results of student/teacher surveys on bullying and put-downs.          
• Involve everyone in the school in the process of developing the policy.    
• Conduct classroom discussions about bullying and put-downs.  
• Use results of the survey to stimulate classroom discussion. The Spreading Kindness Program Guide I has suggested classroom activities.    
• Have teachers and students establish 3-4 classroom rules such as these:    
  • We agree that no student will be permitted to bully or put-down any other student.      
  • We agree that we will come to the aid of any student being bullied or put-down by telling a bully to stop and/or by getting help from an adult.    
  •  We agree to include all students in all activities at school or on the playground. 
•  Involve everyone in the school in developing 3-4 overall school rules such as these:   
  • All staff members will confront bullying and put-downs as soon as they are identified.          
  • Students agree to help those being bullied or put-down by speaking out and by getting adult help. 
  • All students agree to include everyone in their activities. No one is marginalized.        
  • Post these rules in every classroom and in all public areas such as restrooms, playgrounds and lunchrooms.    
  • Think through how to best advertise the policy.  
  • Consider having the School Board adopt the policy.    

Enforcement Guidelines:  

•  Intervene quickly                
•  Enforce consistently   
• Develop procedures for investigating incident reports  
• Use the school counselor to teach bullies new ways to get their needs met   
• Find positive ways to channel the bullying behavior  

Evaluation

• Re-administer the survey after the policy is in effect and compare results
• Compare number and kinds of discipline referral pre and post 
• Compare number of put-downs pre and post 

If you are interested in having us help you create a bullying prevention program for your school, please contact Barry K. Weinhold, Ph.D.,

The Kindness Campaign
C/O Barry K. Weinhold
117 Lady Slipper Trail
Swannanoa, NC 28778

Phone: 828.686.1890 
Email: barryk@weinholds.org

Leo The Kindhearted Lion

Barry K. Weinhold

Meet Leo, The Kind-Hearted Lion -- the Mascot of the Kindness Campaign

When we started the Kindness Campaign back in 1994, it began to grow a number of schools adopted the program. Because we initially focused most of our attention at elementary schools, we looked for ways to convey the main ideas of the Campaign to children. We began thinking about a mascot that could help us when we went to visit schools.

Someone involved with the Campaign suggested we talk to the people who ran the Robot Factory, a business in a neighboring community, that had produced mascots such as McGruff, the Crime Dog, Smokey the Bear for the Forest Service and a Dalmatian Dog for Fire Departments. I visited their facility and they demonstrated how they could create life-like mascots on remote-controlled tricycles. Their technology allowed someone to talk with the children though the mascot while standing in the back of the room using a remote built-in microphone. They were even able to install a tape recorder in the mascot tht allowed it to sing a theme song to the kids.

At the time, the Lion-King was a popular children’s movie, so I thought maybe a Lion, usually seen as fierce, could also be a kind Lion-King. The Robot Factor agreed to create a remote controlled robot for the Campaign that rode on a tricycle. We dubbed him Leo, The Kind-Hearted Lion. His head sits on a spring and bobs from side to side as he moves, making him look almost lifelike. In fact, many adults first thought that there might a live person inside the lion costume and riding around on the tricycle. As you can see from the picture, Leo has a personality of his own. His winning ways open the hearts and minds of children and adults alike about the importance of being kind to each other.

We weren’t able to afford to buy Leo outright, as he cost over $10,000. However, the owners of the Robot Factory were so excited about how Leo could help children, they agreed to rent him to us and deduct the rental fees from the his purchase price. Eventually we were able to pay for Leo and he became the official mascot of the Kindness Campaign.

I became Leo’s voice in conversations with children about kindness. I eventually realized that Leo was sort of an alter ego for me. When I spoke to the kids through Leo, it was as though the professor or psychologist disappeared and my own inner child came out to play with them. I had great fun talking to young children about being kind and watching them give Leo hugs and kisses. Over time the children actually “loved” all of his whiskers off and eventually we had to take him back to the Robot Factory to get a new set for him.

I also trained others to be Leo’s voice. They also loved speaking to the children through Leo feeling the creative energy that made him come alive. Once an elementary school principal asked me to bring Leo to her school and talk to a group of three fifth grade boys who had been bullying and taunting kids on the playground. In a stroke of genius, she invited these three boys to head up the Kindness Campaign in her school. During my visit to this school, I showed these boys how to work with Leo and they took to him immediately. I still remember the day they were on stage with Leo and announced that Leo would be helping them lead the Kindness Campaign at their school.

Later I took Leo to community gatherings, to the mall and other places where he could talk to children and adults about the importance of being kind to others. Leo loved being on television! He often was interviewed about the Kindness Campaign and he spoke to the viewing audience about the importance of kindness. Leo lives on in the hearts of those thousands of children who listened intently to a Lion on a tricycle talk about being kind to each other and sing the Kindness Campaign theme song to them.