The classroom door opened unexpectedly, and Sister Adrian, the principal at our Catholic elementary school, made an announcement.
“Everyone on your knees and pray,” she said. “The president has been killed.”
It was 50 years ago that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was gunned down by an assassin’s bullet and, with that one heinous act, a vibrant young president was forever silenced.
Five years later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. Two months later, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.
The entire world was stunned. America’s leaders, those with vision and perseverance, were being silenced even though their speeches and writings revealed men who believed in a peaceful way to end hatred and prejudice.
They understood the country was experiencing turbulent times. When King was accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, he spoke of the violence in America and how destructive prejudice and hatred was to this country.
“Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love,” he said.
Young Bobby Kennedy echoed King. In 1961, Bobby wrote “All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don’t. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.”
Even though these words were written over 50 years ago, I want to believe they weren’t written in vain. We have the chance to continue these messages of peace, and doing so doesn’t require legislative action or a full-out political onslaught to put them into action.
Regular folks like you and me start simply. We do something nice for someone every day.
I’m not coming up with some radical new invention or idea, and it hardly seems like doing something nice for someone could radically change the world. It might not, but it’s a good place to start.
The seeds have already been sewn. Starting every November, people on Facebook post a daily thanks every day up to Thanksgiving. Posts range from a healthy family to new boots to a good job.
Let’s take that movement a step further and put our words into action.
Write a letter to that cousin, sister or brother who keeps the family together, the ones who quietly tend to the gravestones and make sure the grandparents are driven to events. They’re seldom thanked for those small acts of kindness.
There’s the co-worker who always fills the coffee pot back up, organizes the flower fund and comes by to check on you after you’ve been out sick. They go out of their way to make the work place a little more like home. When’s the last time we thanked them?
The neighbor who picks up our newspapers when we’re out of town, a friend who keeps calling when you’ve been out of touch for a while or the kids next door who put a smile on your face when they’re outside playing.
Pay for the people behind you in the drive through. Thank your spouse for the countless nice things they do that we take for granted after years of marriage.
Send a card to a niece or nephew and include a couple of bucks. Resist the urge to tell someone off and, instead, say something nice to somebody who’s having a tough day.
Seize the opportunity to show kindness and make a point to thank those whose kindness makes the world a better place.
We’re not organizing peace rallies in the nation’s capitol nor are we leading peaceful marches. We’re simply trying to improve the world one kind act at a time.
I think Bobby, Jack and Martin would like that.