Thursday, September 24, 2009

One Random Act of Kindness at a Time

Spanish class has continued to be a struggle for many of my classmates including me. Slowly we have begun to understand more and more thanks to all of your prayers!:) One fellow classmate of mine however has been having quite a lot of trouble in this class. He is a junior, but has no experience prior to taking this language. Even though he is a grade older than the rest of the class, he is often picked on by the other kids in my class. All of this teasing, and no experience have taken a toll on him. I see him become quieter and quieter each day, sinking deeper and deeper into his chair. All of the teasing has begun to hurt his grades too! This happens a lot, and many times I have had to stand up for him. I have become his only friend in the class.

Just today he told me that he was thinking of dropping this Spanish class. This did not surprise me one bit that he was thinking of this. However, I told him that I have been in the exact same position that he is in right now. I told him that I am there for him. I also told him that he is not the only one struggling in this class, because many of us are! I wanted him to know that he is not alone. I told him that I am struggling with Spanish also, but I am not giving up, and neither should he! I told him that I will help him to better understand the language. This way we will be learning together. Another thing that I told him is that if he is having problems with teasing, that he should go to the teachers and tell them what is happening. This way he doesn't have to tolerate any of the teasing anymore.

I feel that I am called to serve and help this boy, as we are all called to serve those who are in trouble. We are called to be friends to the friend-less. We must stand up for one another. We must show kindness and love to one another. There was a good movie that I have watched recently. It is entitled " Evan Almighty". It is so wonderful that I feel the need to watch it many times. In this movie a man wants to be able to change the world, so he asks for God's help. In the end, God tells him how he can change the world just by "demonstrating one random act of kindness at a time!" How true and beautiful this is! We all have a chance to rid the world of hate, ridicule, war and evil, and this is the way to do it!

Throughout each Spanish class I help him to better understand the things that we are working on. I sit with him and talk to him on the bus ride home. I tell him that I struggle also in Spanish, but together we will learn and be able to understand this difficult language! Please keep me, my friend and every single one of the kids in my Spanish class as we work on understanding Spanish, and how to change the world, using " one random act of kindness at a time".

P.S.- The choir I am singing at church practiced a song tonight that I think is appropriate for this post! It is called "Where There is Love" by David Haas. I could not find a link to this song, so I posted the lyrics instead! Enjoy!:)

Where There is Love


Where there is love, there is God.

The love of God has gathered us together: Alleluia

Love is patient, love is kind,

Never jealous, never proud,

Never seeking for one's self,

Love never leads to anger.

Love is gracious and forgiving

Taking no delight in wrong

Love rejoices in the truth

Love will endure

Many things will pass away,

There are but three things that last;

Faith, Hope and Love;

The greatest of these is Love.


Music and Lyrics by David Haas

5 comments:

  1. John,
    How true-random acts of kindness can change the world or at least our little part of it. I also see you following St. Therese's Little Way in this-little things with great love. Your befriending your classmate is actually heroic in a way because you open yourself to teasing as well, but you have put love of neighbor ahead of yourself. God will certainly bless you for it.
    I will continue to pray for you, this young man and your Spanish class as you continue to struggle along together.

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  2. John,
    I, too, believe random acts of kindness can change our world. Everything matters. Every smile, every kind word, every helping hand. I think you have a wonderful family and I keep all of you in my prayers. Thank you for your kindness, this world needs it.

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  3. John,

    No doubt you are doing the right thing for your classmate. Learning to be a stand-up guy now makes you able to stand up against the forces of the world you want you to deny the Lord later. I also like the music on your blog - how did you do that?

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  4. Hi Brother Richard!:)

    Thanks for the great comment! I went on Playlist.com. It is a website where you pick any songs you want! After you have finished picking the ones you want, it gives you the option of putting them on your blog. If you want to do this, it gives you a code and you copy and paste the code into your blog layout in a new gadget section. When you have done this you can get on your blog and you will see your playlist on your blog! Hope this helps!:)

    Thanks again for the comment!:)

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  5. Your post John...has transported me back in time to the long, treacherous journey through my own high school days...being followed home and taunted by girls who "claimed" to have been my "friends" but then turned on a dime the instant they decided I made a good target.
    I will indeed keep you, your friend, and the class in my prayers.

    Father Lawrence G. Lovasik wrote a book called
    "The Hidden Power of Kindness"
    Perhaps you'd enjoy reading it if your library carries it...if not, let me know, and I'll send you my copy...I have been through it several times and would LOVE to share it with you and your mom!

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