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Monthly Archives: May 2018

Memorial Day – Lest We Forget

Approximately 620,000 soldiers lost their lives during the Civil War. It was a catastrophic loss of life. Decoration Day was instituted to decorate the Civil War graves with flags and May flowers.  Decoration Day was later changed to Memorial Day to remember the brave soldiers that gave their life instead of emphasizing their graves.  After World War I, Memorial Day was expanded to include all American fallen heroes.

Many Americans equate Memorial Day with the start of the summer season with picnics, parties, time off work, swimming and other leisure activities.  The devastation and bravery of war is rarely the emphasis of this three day weekend. One of the many ways to honor our war heroes, is to visit a preserved battlefield, I would suggest spending time walking in the footsteps of these historic heroes to feel the sacred and sober energy that resides in the blood stained grounds.

I recently visited the Wilson’s Creek Battlefield, operated by the National Park Service. It was the location of the second battle of the Civil War and the first fought west of the Mississippi River. It’s here that 537 Union and Confederate soldiers killed each other and thousands more were wounded in August 1861. Both sides hoped the fight would determine Missouri’s course — slave state or free. The Confederates won the battle but did not achieve its major objective of taking over Missouri, which very likely would have led to its secession from the Union. Most people in Missouri wanted to stay neutral but there were many, including the governor, who wanted to secede.

On the battlefield is the preserved Ray house. I can’t imagine how scared the Ray family must have been when over 10,000 Southern soldiers descended on their farm. All their fields, crops and animals were confiscated with no supplies for the family to make it through the next winter.

 

Ray House

On the morning of August 10th, some of the Ray children were outside tending to their horses when a Confederate soldier told them to take shelter because there was going to be a fight. All of the Ray family including their slave Rhoda and her four children took shelter in the cellar where they stayed for the entire six-hour battle. John Ray sat on the front porch throughout the battle and observed the action in his cornfield and the continuing action on what became known as Bloody Hill.

Depiction of General Lyon’s death

Near Bloody Hill, Union General Nathaniel Lyon caught a musket ball through the heart and was killed. He was the first Union general to die in the Civil War.  General Lyon had a premonition that he was going to die in battle that day. He told his chief of staff, “I am a believer in presentiments, and I have a feeling that I can’t get rid of that I shall not survive this battle.” He later added, “I will gladly give my life for a victory.”  A Confederate soldier said General Lyon was one of the bravest soldiers he ever met.  His funeral was attended by approximately 15,000 people, his death touch those near and far.  We should never forget our heroes but we should be careful not to glamorize war.

I agree with this presidential quote, “Peace is the real and right memorial for those who have died in war.”  I pray we can find ways to resolve conflicts without killing each other and live in a harmonic world that honors the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shall not kill.”

Staying in Touch: Barbara Hirsh can be reached at info@LiveKinder.com  I love hearing your kindness stories.  Please sign-up for almost weekly kindness message at www.LiveKinder.com or follow LiveKinder on Facebook! 

Anger Is Contagious

Beware anger is contagious.  Don’t allow others anger to become yours.

                                              Prabakaran Thirumalai

On our recent airplane trip to Chicago, we were getting settled into our seats in row 12 when a woman went into row 11 and turned to look at us and shouted in our faces, “I’m seating in row 11,” which by the way was the row she was standing in at that moment.  She added, “You are in my seat!”  I looked at Joel and went to get up to show her the row numbers.  Before I could do that the calm gentlemen in row 10 stated she was in the right row, row 11.   She quickly took her seat without acknowledging she had made an error.

I was seating there thinking how wrong she was to yell at us and did she not have the decency to acknowledge she was wrong.  Then I realized that her anger had seeped into my heart and head.  Anger is truly contagious; so I prayed to remove the anger from me and to get back to my place of peace and love, for I knew it was more important to live in peace than to be right.  I was justified to tell that story over and over again but what would that do for me but confirm I was right to complain and every time I told the story the anger would seep back into my heart.

This is a very simplistic example but it made me understand how anger can run rampart from person to person.  As I look back at this scenario, I realize how much anger that woman was holding inside of her for her to scream at us.  It was her cry for love.   When people live with anger in their heart it comes screaming out, they are the ones that need kindness the most.   Next time I get falsely accused I hope I can put the anger I caught from them aside to buy them a snack box and break the chain reaction of hate that anger causes. I’ve come to learn that true forgiveness is not getting upset in the first place.

Staying in Touch: Barbara Hirsh can be reached at info@LiveKinder.com  I love hearing your kindness stories.  Please sign-up for almost weekly kindness message at www.LiveKinder.com or follow LiveKinder on Facebook! 

Do You Believe What You Wear?

What does your t-shirt say about you?  T-shirts logos and sayings are your message to the world. T-shirts herald many messages from sports teams, vacation locations, cartoon characters, movies (e.g. Star Wars) activities you love, restaurants (e.g.Hard Rock Cafe), designer’s logos or designer names. There are also humorous sayings, positive sayings and way too many negative shirts.  Have you ever thought about what your T-shirt says about you?  Well, Shawn Aswad has. She has added another category, compliments. She says she’s hoping to change the world, one compliment at a time, with her line of t-shirts.

She founded Complimentees last July on the hopes and dreams that positive words can change lives. That a positive message read, can bring a smile and make a difference in one life in that one moment. But with greater hopes that if we take that one and multiply it by thousands, all over the world, the change can be epic. As Shawn states, “We can never have enough kindness in the world, especially now in its current state.  But it goes farther than kindness and is about living a positive lifestyle.  If we can rid the negativity, the kindness will come!  Not everyone has the courage to go up to strangers and say something positive…but everyone can wear it.”

Examples of the compliments on her t-shirts include, “You Are You Powerfully Brave,” “You Look Fantastic” and “You Are a Superhero”.   My favorite is “You Make Me Smile.” The most popular is, “You Make Me Want to Dance.”

Abraham Lincoln knew the power of a compliment. Lincoln wrote in a letter to Thurlow Weed in 1865, as noted in Donald Phillips’ book, Lincoln on Leadership.  The passage says, “As a lawyer in Springfield the effect of his compliments on others provided a powerful motivational force in getting things accomplished.”

Shawn believes in complimenting others whenever she can.   How about you? How many compliments did you give yesterday?  How many times did you rebuke someone yesterday?  Did you say more positive words than negative words? It makes a difference to those around you, as well as, to yourself.   If you are not good at giving compliments perhaps a Complimentee would help change that.

Complimentees help fund Shawn’s dog rescue, Snooty Giggles.  Shawn founded Snooty Giggles over a decade ago to rescue dogs with special needs and/or medical needs.  She has saved thousands of dogs. So, every shirt helps physically challenged dogs and perhaps brings a smile to someone that really needs it.  To Shawn the dogs of Snooty Giggles have always been her inspiration and motivation for positive living; the dogs are always giving unconditional love even with their physical challenges. She believes that there is no such thing as special needs, only super powers.

Shawn is a Caring Heart winner for spreading kindness one shirt at a time, for loving dogs that others may no longer love, and most of all for making the world a better, more positive place, one t-shirt at a time.  She always believes what she wears.

Why not give ten compliments today and it that is too difficult perhaps you should purchase a Complimentee at https://complimentees.com/.

Staying in Touch: Barbara Hirsh can be reached at info@LiveKinder.com  I love hearing your kindness stories.  Please sign-up for almost weekly kindness message at www.LiveKinder.com or follow LiveKinder on Facebook! 

She Opened Her Eyes and Knew She Had to Help

“You can close your eyes to the things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel.” Johnny Depp

Have you ever seen something so unthinkable, you wished it could be erased from your mind as if you never saw it? Well, that is exactly the first reaction of second grade teacher, Krysten Case, when she heard about the human trafficking happening in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. In that Ohio County approximately 1,200 women are arrested each year for solicitation. Over 92% are identified as victims of human sex trafficking — first trafficked for sex at the average age of 13 through force, fraud, or coercion. It is easy to close our eyes but it is happening all over our country, in every state. At first, Krysten spent a lot of time trying to forget about human trafficking for about a year, but various things about it kept popping back up into her world until she knew she had to open her eyes.

Many of us when we hear about terrible situations we close our eyes, but not Krysten. She researched to find out the facts and was deeply moved by the stories of the women enslaved by human trafficking. She had not realized human trafficking was happening in the United States, we tend to think of it as an over-seas problem. She also learned about Freedom ala Cart. Krysten states, “This non-profit organization helps the human trafficking survivors restore, rebuild, and begin their lives as the women they were made to be. The work they do is incredible. No one else has the model they have…walking women from their very first step into CATCH court, all the way to gaining their permanent independence, establishing employment, and reuniting with their children and families.” (CATCH stands for Changing Actions To Change Habits. It’s a special docket court created by Judge Paul Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. See catchcourt.org to find out more.)

When God whispered in her ear; Krysten knew she had to do something. She knew she couldn’t eradicate it and she knew what she could do was only a drop in the bucket. Many times the problem seems so huge we don’t see where we fit in; so we don’t try. However, God gave Krysten a picture of the jewelry she was to make, a metal circle with “free” stamped in it. She had no idea how to create it, but Krysten and her husband found a way to do it and FancyFreedomDesigns was born.

The funny thing about being only a drop in the bucket, the drops accumulate and become something greater, just like those buckets at water parks that accumulate water and when full enough, they tip over to cool off the willing swimmers with a big splash.

With every piece of jewelry worn, one more person becomes aware and they can then share the story and more drops are added into the bucket. With every piece sold more money is donated and another survivor is helped.

I am proud to present Krysten Case with this month’s Caring Heart Award for her determination to be a positive force for human trafficking survivors, just by taking small steps toward making a difference. Krysten opened her eyes and became an inspiration to us all, because if a second grade teacher can make a difference why can’t we all? Thank you, Krysten, for you dedication, passion and courage. If everyone put in a drop, the bucket would spill even faster. Just think what could be accomplished.

In Krysten’s words, “We are all here on this planet for a reason. We have things to do, people to influence and to inspire, a difference to make somewhere, somehow in this world. There are so many things in the world that need attention, time, money, solutions. You don’t have to feel overwhelmed by this. Not every problem is meant for you to fix or solve. Keep an eye open for the things that tug at your heart over and over. Listen closely to those small nudges toward the same thing again and again. If you’re a praying person, ask God to help show you which solution you need to become a part of. When you land on it, this is your bucket, so to speak. Once you find it, start putting as many drops in as you can! (And if you aren’t sure what it is yet…start putting drops in any bucket for now…Just start small and keep going. You’ll figure it out.”)

So, do you Fancy Freedom? Then show it by wearing or giving a unique piece of jewelry, and help fight modern-day slavery.  Why not shop Krysten’s store?  She does great custom work.  I love my bracelet!

Do you know someone that deserves a Caring Heart award?

Staying in Touch: Barbara Hirsh can be reached at info@LiveKinder.com  I love hearing your kindness stories.  Please sign-up for almost weekly kindness message at www.LiveKinder.com or follow LiveKinder on Facebook!