Last Wednesday, Human Element students and adviser Emmy Lou Heber hosted a kindness assembly in the auditorium after 4th period. The auditorium was beautifully decorated with bright, colorful posters with positive messages written on them. On the back and bottoms of all the chairs in the auditorium there were hearts with uplifting messages taped on to them that each student got to take with them.

Callie White-Pittman was the opening act of the assembly, playing the National Anthem on her guitar. After the National Anthem, a video was played to the audience of students and staff members saying what kindness means to them. During the video various students said that kindness meant being considerate of others. Kim fields, who is greatly known for his kind acts and his optimistic attitude, said that kindness to him revolves around the, “…golden rule: treat others how you wish to be treated.” Christopher Green, a senior at Taft High, said that people are “…scared to go out of their way and put themselves out there to be kind to someone else. Kindness to me is vulnerability,” which really hit the nail on the head.

After the video about kindness, Newton came onto the stage as an inspirational speaker wearing his famous “Dude. Be nice” t-shirt. Behind him, the screen said, “Kindness: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” He got everyone warmed up by having all the students in the audience stand up and take turns giving the people next to them back massages. Afterwards, he welcomed Ashlynn Smith and D’Angelo Armenta, two students he’s never met, to the stage where he had them describe two people that mean the most to them. He had them keep the names of these people secret, and wowed the audience by pulling out two envelopes that had the name Rick; who is Ashlynn’s grandpa and the person she chose, and Katherine Brown; who is D’Angelo’s best friend and the person he chose.

Newton then talked about how just something as, “little as acknowledging someone’s name can make all the difference.” Kindness doesn’t have to be some huge grand gesture, it is just having compassion for other human beings and, “giving off positive vibes to other people,” as Christopher Green said during the video. Everyone has struggles, and sometimes it is easy to forget that because we get caught up in our own problems. We live in a world where it is easier and more common to be negative and hateful towards other people than it is to be nice and uplifting to our peers around us. That needs to be changed.

Why is it so hard for us to connect with others and put ourselves out there enough to just compliment one another and bring each other up? A lot of the times, people feel scared to reach out to others they don’t know because they fear rejection or getting negative feedback or being labeled weird because of how rare random acts of kindness are. They don’t want to step out of their comfort zones. The message her is simple: Don’t be afraid to be the reason someone feels good about themselves. One small compliment can change someone’s whole day. Just acknowledging someone can make a whole world of difference. Don’t be afraid to be “vulnerable,” and to show some kindness to one another. No act of kindness is too small. Let’s step out of our comfort zones and change the world one small act of kindness at a time.