Acts Of Kindness

You sound much like my sister who retired from teaching a year ago last spring. She gave much of her free time to tutor those who were behind and personally bought teaching aids that the board would not buy. The only ill will she held was against a student who knocked her down. The young man was expelled and went on to a private school where he got in serious enough trouble to cause his confinement in a juvenile facility. Her only comment then was that "that was what she expected." I could not have been so nice!

Slàinte,   

 Patch    

I received this today and it really touched me. I would like to share it with you.

Val

Life of Reilly
There are some games in which cheering for the other side feels better than winning.
by Rick Reilly


Melinda Wright
Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.



They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

"I WOULDN'T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!"

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

What a cool story! Grapevine is where we stayed on our way thru Texas, to our daughter's wedding in Wichita Falls up north in the state... its a sweet community.

That is a great story about the football game.

Well, I am not tooting my own horn but I was able to help a family have a mini vacation. My husband has been working a bit of overtime lately. A group I belong to is planning a camping trip for next weekend. With everyone going in together for food, it is only $7 per person for meals. One woman, that has been planning to go, found out that her soon-to-be ex-husband had the checking account frozen. She has no money to pay for the trip. I was able to help out the family by paying for three of them. They will most likely never know who did it, but I feel good for 'paying it forward.'

I just found this topic and wanted to share this link to a video with you. It's called "The simple truth of service", but I think it should be renamed "A simple act of kindness". I work with handicapped people, so watching this touched me even more.
Hope you enjoy!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_6y1CieJHo

I love reading this thread. mcnberry thank you for posting this youtube it brought tears to my eyes. We can make a difference. Bless you for working with the handicapped people.


Slainte

I love that story. I wish that there were more Johnnys in the world. The grocery store in my town is a nightmare to shop in. The employees would rather talk to their friends or family than deal with others.

Thanks for sharing that video.

What a wonderful idea! There are so many things people can do to make a difference.

One thing I try to do is give people a friendly wave and let them take a turn if I see no one letting them in (in the car). It catches on, and then that person will do it to another person. Kinda like payit forward.


Agreed, thanks for sharing this video!

Hello,

Driving the California freeways, very seldom do you get a smile and someone that actually lets you change lanes; doesn't matter how long the blinker is on, some people have a problem letting people change lanes; that also goes for coming into traffic on a on-ramp, I see more and more every morning I take the freeway to work only apx 4-5 miles, that people would rather see you run off into the ditch then let you yield into the traffic, therefore every morning when that one person shows courtesy on the freeway I ALWAYS make a point of a smile and a wave thank you, rain or shine.

At the grocery store, I will always let someone go ahead of me with just a couple of items; I know that there are check outs for10 or less or whatever, there hasn't been one time I haven't gotten a thank you and a smile from that person.

I always say hello or acknowledge a smile to people I do not know whenever out and about, there's absolutely no harm in being kind. Unfortunately being kind and showing respect seems to be a lost characteristic, so, my thought is; a smile and being kind can be contagious, so why not spread it around !

slainte ~

This story really should be repeated over and over and over again.............


Jobless man's son to get Christmas surprise

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40537680/ns/wo...onderful_world/

This is a great story. It's good to know there's still kind people on the earth. I agree pass this one on.

Slainte

I told someone today that he was a big jerk, which I consider to be most kind. No more enabling and cover it over for him. Just a most-loving expression of truth to enable better personal responsibility. Now what can be more kind than that?

Absolutely wonderful story! Shared it on facebook!

That actually brings up a good point. Sometimes an "Act of Kindness" means doing something to invoke a person to be a better more responsible person. I think of kids mostly in situations like this, but adults too sometimes need a swift kick to the pants (myself included!).

They expect nothing in return though they hope their deeds will inspire others to spread kindness through their lives and through the lives of others


















celtic punk