Speaker A: 00:00:00

Kind of sounds like a thing that should be easy, but it seems to be increasingly hard to find in the wild.

Speaker A: 00:00:06

Maybe we're not starting early enough.

Speaker A: 00:00:08

I'm Hal Eisner, along with Elsa Ramon and Hunter Lowery, and this is what the smart, fresh and uplifting.

Speaker A: 00:00:20

We've got the stories that make you want to say, what the hell?

Speaker A: 00:00:26

We found a group that inspires young people and communities who lead with compassion, empathy, and respect.

Speaker B: 00:00:34

Today we're joined by Scott Aylers, chief kindness strategist for Kindness is Free.

Speaker B: 00:00:40

That's a movement inspiring people to lead with compassion and make kindness a part of their everyday life.

Speaker C: 00:00:47

That is a cool job title.

Speaker C: 00:00:49

We should all aspire to be, you know, in charge of kindness.

Speaker C: 00:00:53

Scott, first of all, welcome.

Speaker C: 00:00:55

Thanks for joining us.

Speaker C: 00:00:56

We personally on what the Hell have been talking about kindness lately.

Speaker C: 00:01:00

We did a podcast recently on an actual study about kindness and its effects on people and the ripple effects of it.

Speaker C: 00:01:09

And now we're visiting someone like you who actually implements kindness for a living.

Speaker C: 00:01:18

So tell me a bit about the organization.

Speaker C: 00:01:20

And obviously kindness is the goal, but what's the bigger picture with it?

Speaker D: 00:01:25

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker D: 00:01:26

Well, first of all, on behalf of Kindness is Free and the Boys and Girls Club here in the West San Gabriel Valley and Eastside, I want to say thank you so much for inviting us on and giving us the opportunity to kind of share our message, our initiative, and kind of what we're trying to do to inspire kindness in our youth and the nation as a whole.

Speaker D: 00:01:45

Kindness is Free.

Speaker D: 00:01:46

I mean, for us, it's something that we really want to make kindness tangible for youth, not abstract, something that they can see, feel, and act on daily.

Speaker D: 00:01:59

And we do that through curriculum.

Speaker D: 00:02:02

We do that through acts of service, and we do that through our outreach and just getting the word out and spreading.

Speaker D: 00:02:10

at the Boys and girls club in: 2020

Speaker D: 00:02:17

rs at home, they know that in: 2020

Speaker D: 00:02:25

We had Covid.

Speaker D: 00:02:26

We had some.

Speaker D: 00:02:27

Our schools are locked down, you know, everything.

Speaker D: 00:02:30

Everyone was staying indoors.

Speaker D: 00:02:31

The social connection was kind of missing.

Speaker D: 00:02:35

There was some negativity in the world with the civil unrest.

Speaker D: 00:02:40

And our our visionary and founder, Lori Milgard, who is friends with our CEO here at the Boys and Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley, news side, Jarrah Zubak.

Speaker D: 00:02:50

They were going on kind of a weekly walk, and like most people, they were just discussing what's going on in the world and, and how it kind of seemed like it was on fire and there was just, it was just negative stuff everywhere.

Speaker D: 00:03:02

And Lori and JR they really wanted to bring kindness in, into the lives of our youth and really give our kids an outlet of kindness and kind of have them kind of give them a path and kind of steer them away from the negativity and help them see and lead a life of kindness.

Speaker D: 00:03:23

And so that's how it all really started.

Speaker D: 00:03:24

And we're really grateful for how fast and how quickly it's grown into not only just a local or a state level organization, but also a national organization.

Speaker A: 00:03:40

Well, I think, you know, I think that.

Speaker A: 00:03:42

Yeah, no, and I think the, the word kindness sort of emotes so many different thoughts, so many different feelings.

Speaker A: 00:03:50

Oftentimes we, we think that's the cure to the divisive ills in our, our world.

Speaker A: 00:03:58

How do you hope this will spread from a message that kindness is free to something broader?

Speaker D: 00:04:08

Yeah, you know, we, we just, we believe you said earlier, you know, kindness is easy.

Speaker D: 00:04:16

We all know it inherently, we know what kindness is.

Speaker D: 00:04:19

But I think it's one thing to know it, and it's another thing to actually put it into practice.

Speaker D: 00:04:24

And like, we all know life's full of lots of choices every day, maybe positive, maybe negative, maybe a variety or spectrum of choices.

Speaker D: 00:04:33

But we're trying to help steer our youth in the path of choosing that, that positive, kind choice.

Speaker D: 00:04:40

And like you mentioned, with the ripple effect, we tell our youth that kindness is a superpower.

Speaker D: 00:04:49

And not only do they have a chance to change someone's day by a small act of kindness, holding a door open or writing a note or saying thank you or helping, but that makes that person that they did the kind act to feel good, and so now they want to be good to somebody.

Speaker D: 00:05:05

So we tell our kids that, you know, if you just make a small act of kindness to someone, it could ripple effect into a large, broader act of kindness around the community.

Speaker A: 00:05:16

Can I just say something in regard to what you just said?

Speaker A: 00:05:19

I've told this story before on this podcast, and I told it yesterday to, to somebody I was having a conversation with and that said I was at a restaurant with my son one day and my up to the cash register went to pay my bill and somebody else had paid it.

Speaker A: 00:05:34

And the woman at the cashier said, you don't have to pay it.

Speaker A: 00:05:37

They did.

Speaker A: 00:05:38

And I thought, wow.

Speaker A: 00:05:39

She said, yeah, he does that every week.

Speaker A: 00:05:41

He comes in, he buys breakfast, he buys for somebody else in the restaurant, and he leaves.

Speaker A: 00:05:45

I Thought, wow, that, that's amazing.

Speaker A: 00:05:46

I went to a coffee place, went through the drive through, paid for coffee for the people behind me.

Speaker A: 00:05:54

That was sort of my way of responding to that.

Speaker A: 00:05:57

When I told that story yesterday to somebody, they said, well, same thing happened to me.

Speaker A: 00:06:03

I was in my car and somebody in front of me paid for coffee for me.

Speaker A: 00:06:07

And I said, well, did you pay it back?

Speaker A: 00:06:08

And she said, I did.

Speaker A: 00:06:11

So, I mean, that, isn't that the ripple effect you're talking about?

Speaker D: 00:06:14

That's exactly what we're talking about, Al.

Speaker D: 00:06:16

Yeah.

Speaker D: 00:06:16

So I, I, we, we really believe in letting our, our youth, especially our teen ambassador, our teen Kindness ambassadors, who we call our, our Kindness Ambassadors, our kids who have gone through our program and our teen ambassadors, it's something that we've really leaned on in the past couple of years is we really want to get them out and putting boots on the ground in volunteer work or service work to really feel that, that feeling of kindness and like, wow, that was, you know, that, that really felt good to give back or help pass out ice cream at an event that we're hosting or help serve, you know, a holiday dinner to a family like we, that we want that to really resonate with them.

Speaker D: 00:06:57

So not only do they carry it forward in their lives, but hopefully they inspire not only their friends, but people in their community to do the same.

Speaker B: 00:07:04

Now, Scott, you said this started just in our little corner of Los Angeles here in the Boys and Girls Club, but I think you said it's going nationwide.

Speaker B: 00:07:13

What can you tell me about that?

Speaker D: 00:07:15

My gosh.

Speaker D: 00:07:16

So it's, it's really incredible.

Speaker D: 00:07:18

And the response we've gotten from, obviously the local, but the statewide and the nationwide, you know, we are in over 450 boys and girls clubs across the country out of the roughly 5,000.

Speaker D: 00:07:31

So obviously there's more work to be done and we're looking to get in as many as we can.

Speaker D: 00:07:36

We've had over: 1400

Speaker D: 00:07:47

We have a kindness pledge where we want anyone to take it and then end up joining our cause and promising not only to themselves, but the peers that are around them that they're going to always lead with kindness.

Speaker D: 00:07:59

We've had over 300,000 people today take our kindness pledge, which is crazy.

Speaker D: 00:08:05

And this is across the country, so it's exciting to see.

Speaker D: 00:08:10

And it seems like almost every month it's kind of exponentially ticking up to how many new people we have joining our cause.

Speaker C: 00:08:18

You know, truth be told, I am so jealous of your job.

Speaker C: 00:08:24

But what is it that a Chief Kindness Strategist does from day to day?

Speaker C: 00:08:29

Other than the obvious?

Speaker D: 00:08:30

Yes.

Speaker D: 00:08:31

Well, the, the one thing that I really obviously Chief Kindness Strategist is an incredible title and I'm so grateful for the ability and the opportunity to do what I do besides talking with fine people like yourselves and kind of helping spread the message to new audiences.

Speaker D: 00:08:50

You know, I, I, I really, my, my main title or my main focus is to, is to foster and foster new and old connections with schools, districts, other boys and girls clubs, to hopefully not only expand our programs, but.

Speaker B: 00:09:11

Not.

Speaker D: 00:09:11

Only expand our program, but help, you know, help those, help those clubs that we've already, that are already with us kind of thrive and expand their kindness at their own organization.

Speaker B: 00:09:24

Well, you said you were going to talk about the kindness pledge, so let's do it now.

Speaker B: 00:09:27

What's the kindness pledge all about?

Speaker B: 00:09:29

And who takes it and what does it entail?

Speaker B: 00:09:31

And does it sure.

Speaker D: 00:09:33

Does it hurt?

Speaker D: 00:09:34

It certainly does not hurt.

Speaker D: 00:09:36

Um, it actually hurts.

Speaker D: 00:09:39

I actually say it actually will do the opposite.

Speaker D: 00:09:41

It'll actually make you feel good.

Speaker D: 00:09:42

Um, it's a, it's a, it's our very ground level, very entry level into our program.

Speaker D: 00:09:51

It's a, it's a four part thing and we just have everyone raise their right hand and then they repeat after me.

Speaker D: 00:09:57

So if you guys want to do it now, we certainly can.

Speaker B: 00:10:01

Man.

Speaker B: 00:10:01

Okay.

Speaker B: 00:10:01

I'm committed to.

Speaker D: 00:10:03

Okay.

Speaker A: 00:10:04

Am I giving away my kids or anything?

Speaker D: 00:10:06

No, no, no, just, just the, just your last one.

Speaker D: 00:10:10

No big deal.

Speaker A: 00:10:11

No.

Speaker D: 00:10:14

Okay, so the first one is I pledge to show respect to others.

Speaker A: 00:10:20

I pledge to show respect to others.

Speaker D: 00:10:22

I pledge to treat others how I wish to be treated.

Speaker C: 00:10:26

I pledge to show others.

Speaker B: 00:10:29

Treat others how I wish.

Speaker D: 00:10:30

I know it's hard with the mics.

Speaker D: 00:10:32

I pledge to be compassionate.

Speaker B: 00:10:34

I pledge to be compassionate.

Speaker A: 00:10:35

I pledge to be compassionate.

Speaker D: 00:10:37

And this la, this last one's is pretty important.

Speaker D: 00:10:40

I pledge to do at least one kind act a day.

Speaker B: 00:10:44

Pledge to do.

Speaker A: 00:10:45

Pledge to do at least one kind act a day.

Speaker D: 00:10:47

There you go.

Speaker D: 00:10:48

You can give yourselves a little round of applause and thank you.

Speaker D: 00:10:50

You guys are now part of the over 300,000 people across the country and even the world actually, who have taken the kindest pledge.

Speaker D: 00:10:56

So does that mean I have to.

Speaker B: 00:10:58

Leave the house to do it?

Speaker D: 00:11:01

Kindness shows up in all different ways.

Speaker D: 00:11:03

So you can, you can get creative.

Speaker C: 00:11:04

With it, you know?

Speaker D: 00:11:06

Yeah, you can get creative with it for sure.

Speaker B: 00:11:11

So what is, what is the Kindness pledge?

Speaker B: 00:11:13

I mean, how do you don't check the work?

Speaker B: 00:11:15

I mean, people.

Speaker B: 00:11:16

Do people just like say it and immediately forget?

Speaker B: 00:11:19

Or do you, do you sense that it has a lasting impact?

Speaker D: 00:11:22

Well, listen, at the end of the day, we're all human.

Speaker D: 00:11:24

I know we all make mistakes and that's okay.

Speaker D: 00:11:27

I think it's something that's just a kind of reminder that you've done in the past.

Speaker D: 00:11:32

For us adults, you know, we live our lives and things happen and sometimes the easier way is to not be so kind.

Speaker D: 00:11:38

And we understand that.

Speaker D: 00:11:41

But I think that that's something that's really effective with our youth, is that we try to do it in a big group.

Speaker D: 00:11:47

So if we go to an elementary school for one of our pop up activations where we're engaging the entire K through 5 or Tk 5 student body, we have them all come out or maybe in an assembly, all do it together.

Speaker D: 00:12:01

And so we believe that there is a, a bit of accountability there.

Speaker D: 00:12:05

So I know we've certainly seen it in our club, but when, when kids do it together, if you know, a, a, some sort of negative behavior comes up or a situation comes up where a kid might be acting a certain way that we've, I've actually seen it in our club where kids are like, hey, you took the kindness pledge, you remember?

Speaker D: 00:12:22

And all of a sudden it almost kind of starts a conversation and it actually diffuses some negative behavior.

Speaker D: 00:12:29

So it's actually, it's actually really cool the, that accountability factor with it with the kids.

Speaker C: 00:12:35

You know, social media, obviously, you guys know, everybody knows, can be a real cesspool of negativity and you know, vile comments where people are hiding behind avatars.

Speaker C: 00:12:48

And you know, we know how it works now, but how do you think that this could make a difference in social media settings?

Speaker D: 00:12:58

Yeah, that's an excellent question.

Speaker D: 00:13:00

As I'm sure you all know, we recognize that social media and online spaces are expanding and our, our kids and our youth are increasingly on it at earlier and earlier ages.

Speaker D: 00:13:15

And so I think for us that as, as, you know, adults, we kind of grew up with it or we're learning it.

Speaker D: 00:13:23

And so we really understand just how much online space there is.

Speaker D: 00:13:26

And so we here at Kindness is Free really wanted to tackle that.

Speaker D: 00:13:29

And we have our curriculum that I mentioned earlier that we're teaching kids and there's three parts and the first part is kindness to self.

Speaker D: 00:13:38

So what does it look like to be kind to yourself and all that stuff like positive Affirmations and, and positive selft talk.

Speaker D: 00:13:44

And then there's kindness to others.

Speaker D: 00:13:47

So what does it look like to be a kind student?

Speaker D: 00:13:51

What does it like to be a kind brother, sister, a member of society?

Speaker D: 00:13:56

And then our third section, what we're really excited about, to touch on your point, is kindness online.

Speaker D: 00:14:02

So we really have tried to tackle at least the tip of the iceberg of the online space and helping our kids recognize cyberbullying.

Speaker D: 00:14:15

Cyberbullying, like negative comments, content that might be real and kind of starting to touch on AI and what that all looks like and how to react to it.

Speaker D: 00:14:25

One thing that we're really excited about is trying to have kids recognize cyber bullying.

Speaker D: 00:14:31

I, I think we all fall victim to this when our, as adults on our social media where you see a bad video or something negative or a negative comment, you just go, oh, swipe, swipe.

Speaker D: 00:14:39

You don't really think about it.

Speaker D: 00:14:40

We're so desensitized to all this negative content and because we see it all the time and throughout our, throughout our days and our weeks.

Speaker D: 00:14:48

So we're really trying to have our kids recognize that, that, hey, that video or that comment, that is not okay.

Speaker D: 00:14:54

And so we're trying to have our kids be what we call upstanders rather than bystanders.

Speaker D: 00:15:00

We want them to, to flag it, report it, try to get the video removed or, or do whatever they can to start combating all the negativity online.

Speaker D: 00:15:09

And so hopefully, because we want, we know, we try to tell our kids, you know, that's just not, that's not just a handle or like a gamer tag for that, that's actually some back there.

Speaker D: 00:15:20

Someone's behind that, that name and someone's reading that comment or seeing that video and, and that could really affect them.

Speaker D: 00:15:27

Um, so we just want, we're just trying to have kids hopefully recognize that even though it's online, it still has real world consequences.

Speaker A: 00:15:36

You know, I was gonna, I was gonna go there too, because I think that that's where we find a lot of anonymity.

Speaker A: 00:15:41

We find a lot of resulting negativity.

Speaker A: 00:15:45

And you know, this is a kind of a, it's a hellhole really.

Speaker A: 00:15:51

You know, it just can be a real dangerous place.

Speaker A: 00:15:55

I, you know, sorry, sorry for the pun there, but, you know, I just sort of feel like, you know, how do people maintain accountability?

Speaker A: 00:16:02

I mean, you can, you know, them take a pledge, you can have them say this, you know, say that.

Speaker A: 00:16:06

But, you know, in the end, how do you, how do you get them to really take this on as a mission.

Speaker A: 00:16:12

I know that on my social media and I'll just use this an example, there are a couple of words, one in particular I will not allow.

Speaker A: 00:16:20

And that's because they're not just adults looking at my social media, there are kids looking at my social media.

Speaker A: 00:16:26

And you know, I, I draw the line on what I want to do as a role model and what I'm willing to accept in, in my public space, I see something, I can either just kick it off the island or I can write to the person and say would you like to change your language on that?

Speaker A: 00:16:43

Because otherwise you're going to not be visiting my island anymore.

Speaker A: 00:16:47

And sometimes I've had success in them changing their language.

Speaker A: 00:16:50

But you know, it's kind of a place where people don't feel a sense, want to respect a sense of responsibility and the need to be dignified.

Speaker D: 00:17:03

Totally agree.

Speaker C: 00:17:05

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:17:06

You know, along those lines of publicly being kind and advocating for kindness.

Speaker C: 00:17:14

You hear that saying all the time, don't mistake my kindness for weakness.

Speaker C: 00:17:19

But I like how you explain how it's actually a strength.

Speaker C: 00:17:24

And in those social media settings that Hal just described that we all know how.

Speaker C: 00:17:32

I can see how it could be a sign of strength because you might be one of the only ones taking a stand for kindness.

Speaker D: 00:17:41

Yeah, 100%.

Speaker D: 00:17:41

I, I, I, when I think of the, when I think of the online I grew up with, with the MySpace and, and you know, maybe AOL instant messenger, it was, it was very small.

Speaker D: 00:17:54

It felt like a very, like a one lane road.

Speaker D: 00:17:56

And, and now with the online, all the different games and, and ways kids are connecting and, and, and people are connecting online, it kind of feels like the wild wild West a little bit where it's just, there's no real rules and, and people are kind of just going all off the rails and so as kind of a, as a millennial, I, I've seen the before and now kind of what it's turned into and it's something that is it we really need to as society, as adults, to really guide our kids and you know, put safeguards on to protect them from what really, you know, the Internet can be.

Speaker D: 00:18:30

So we're just, and, and, and a part of that, like I said with our curriculum, we're just trying to make kids aware and try to, and try to open their eyes a little bit to how they can be proactive in, in combating some of that negativity online.

Speaker A: 00:18:43

Yeah, I don't think this is just for kids.

Speaker A: 00:18:45

I mean, you know, you're A millennial.

Speaker A: 00:18:47

I'm a pre historical.

Speaker A: 00:18:49

But yeah, I, I feel like, you know, there's got to be a way to address adults on this thing.

Speaker A: 00:18:56

And you know, some of the meanest people online are grown ups and then their kids see how they are and then they just, you know, know, copycat.

Speaker D: 00:19:03

They y. Yeah.

Speaker D: 00:19:06

Yeah.

Speaker D: 00:19:06

Well, what we always talk about at kindness is with all of our levels of kids, you know, from our 6 through 8ers to our teens, we always talk about how no matter, no matter how old you are, there's always someone looking up to you.

Speaker D: 00:19:20

And so when you lead with kindness as a 9 through 11 year old in our club, you know, the 6 through eights, they're looking up to you and they're seeing that you do that.

Speaker D: 00:19:29

And so your behavior is directly influencing that next generation of kids.

Speaker D: 00:19:34

So we, we tell our 9 to 11 the same thing with the, our teams.

Speaker D: 00:19:37

Like, hey, if you guys go, guys, lead with kindness and do this and you know, A, B and C, the 9 through 11ers are, they'll always look up to you for everything you guys do, from fashion to music to, to anything.

Speaker D: 00:19:49

So if they see you guys choosing kindness, we are firm believers that the, the younger ones will see it and also start to, you know, choose kindness.

Speaker B: 00:19:58

Is it tougher these days?

Speaker B: 00:19:59

I mean, I feel like as adults, we're not living up to our status as role models.

Speaker B: 00:20:07

Not me personally, but I feel like the grownups are not modeling kindness, are not modeling respect, that, you know, at least in the current generation, there's nobody to model the appropriate behavior for these kids.

Speaker B: 00:20:26

Does that something that you are experiencing?

Speaker D: 00:20:30

Yeah, I think not only with kindness, but Boys and Girls clubs and other youth serving organizations as a whole, even schools, it's a two front battle.

Speaker D: 00:20:39

Right.

Speaker D: 00:20:39

So I mean, I think, you know, when you're trying to teach kids kindness, but they go home and maybe their home isn't so kind, we can't really control that home part of it or that outside of our walls part of it.

Speaker D: 00:20:50

And so something that we've started to work on is a family based kindness curriculum.

Speaker D: 00:20:58

So resources for families to come together as, as a whole and kind of learn, you know, about kindness and how to be not only a kind, you know, daughter or son, but also how to be, how to be a kind mom or a kind dad.

Speaker D: 00:21:12

And I think, you know, it starts in the, it starts in the home.

Speaker D: 00:21:15

And I think if, if we can just create and foster more kindness not only with our kids, but as, but their families as a Whole, I think that is the first step to getting into the adult spaces and having big kind of change among the community.

Speaker A: 00:21:35

I want to be a Danny downer, but, you know, it's like, bum, bum, bum.

Speaker A: 00:21:41

You know, it's like it's not the first time people have talked about doing good things.

Speaker A: 00:21:47

I mean, I brought this up before that.

Speaker A: 00:21:50

Back in the day, Rodney King made the statement very publicly, can't we all get along?

Speaker A: 00:21:55

Now, obviously circumstances were different, and obviously it's not to the same context, but it is a comment publicly of saying, can't we all get along?

Speaker A: 00:22:05

Can't we all be kind?

Speaker A: 00:22:07

Kindness is free.

Speaker A: 00:22:08

And that's years ago.

Speaker A: 00:22:10

And yet, look, we have only become more divisive over that time.

Speaker A: 00:22:15

And, and so I, I, again, I don't want to be a downer here, but I, you know, I sort of wonder you as somebody who is the chief kindness strategist, and it's your job to sort of figure out the, the more universal picture here.

Speaker A: 00:22:28

How do you square with that notion that things that have been philosophized in the past that have been good, kind, thoughtful, let's all get along kind of feelings haven't just stuck and how do you make this deck?

Speaker D: 00:22:43

Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker D: 00:22:45

I mean, I, you're completely right.

Speaker D: 00:22:48

The world has gotten more divisive.

Speaker D: 00:22:49

You know, when you choose kindness, it has a ripple effect.

Speaker D: 00:22:51

And all of a sudden it has a kind of a snowball effect of, okay, now I'm gonna be kind again and again and again.

Speaker D: 00:22:56

But then, you know, maybe I'm maybe here at the club, I'm kind all day.

Speaker D: 00:23:00

But then when I'm driving home on the freeway, someone doesn't let me in on the freeway, or someone doesn't let me, you know, get over to the lane to get off, and I miss my exit.

Speaker D: 00:23:07

And in that moment, I think people have a choice of going, you know what?

Speaker D: 00:23:11

Forget it.

Speaker D: 00:23:11

I'm not being kind anymore.

Speaker D: 00:23:12

And now I'm gonna let now somebody in, and I'm, I'm gonna cut somebody off and it has that negative snowball effect.

Speaker D: 00:23:17

Or also now you're going the other way.

Speaker D: 00:23:19

And so much like with our kids, I, I think my overall message to everybody is when you choose kindness all day, don't let one negative thing, like, derail all that kindness.

Speaker D: 00:23:32

Keep the momentum.

Speaker D: 00:23:33

I think, I think it comes down when we try to say, well, how can we make the world a whole, a better kind place?

Speaker D: 00:23:38

It's not a big macro level change where everyone's like, okay.

Speaker D: 00:23:41

We all agree to be kind and then it changes.

Speaker D: 00:23:44

I think on an individual level we all have to just, just, you know what, maybe that person's going through something today and they didn't see me, or maybe something's going on and they just didn't let me in on the freeway.

Speaker D: 00:23:55

Okay, that's fine.

Speaker D: 00:23:56

I'll just let it go.

Speaker D: 00:23:57

And kind of just letting it go and still leading and following the path of kindness.

Speaker D: 00:24:01

They, that is, I think if people start kind of buying into that and leading with that, I think the world will be a better place.

Speaker B: 00:24:11

Do you ever get any pushback?

Speaker B: 00:24:12

I mean, I'm trying to imagine myself as a 9 year old kid on the playground and the other kids are playing keep away or doing one of those horrible things that groups of kids do.

Speaker B: 00:24:27

There's always one kid getting paid, picked on.

Speaker B: 00:24:30

There's always one kid getting dragged across the playground.

Speaker B: 00:24:33

There's always one kid getting pushed down, called names, humiliated.

Speaker B: 00:24:39

How do you become the kind of kid who's able to speak to a group of let's call them bullies because they are and say like, no, that's not nice.

Speaker B: 00:24:52

You shouldn't do that.

Speaker B: 00:24:53

Do kids ever say to you like, dude, this isn't real world?

Speaker D: 00:24:59

Yeah, I mean I, I think short answer is yes.

Speaker D: 00:25:02

You know, sometimes we, we recognize and, and we understand that, you know, that it can be hard to, to do the kind thing, especially if there's peer pressure of being judged yourself.

Speaker D: 00:25:15

You know, if, if someone's being bullied and maybe you want to go help that person or stand up for them, you now risk being bullied by those same people and, or being made fun of.

Speaker D: 00:25:28

And you know, I, we do our best to really show kids that it's okay to be, you know, that, that being brave is, is, is, is courageous really like you, just you or being kind is.

Speaker D: 00:25:40

Is courageous.

Speaker D: 00:25:41

Like just make the right choice and it will open more doors and it will shut for you.

Speaker D: 00:25:47

And so we try to show kids through experiences through, you know, sometimes, sometimes incentives.

Speaker D: 00:25:55

You know, if kids are choosing kindness, we do our best to recognize those kids and highlight those kids and the, the kids will get more opportunities to do things in life if they choose kindness.

Speaker A: 00:26:10

You do anything on your website, like you know, person of the week, Kindness, Kindness Group of the month.

Speaker A: 00:26:19

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:26:19

Kindness hero.

Speaker A: 00:26:20

Do you know you do anything?

Speaker D: 00:26:21

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:26:22

Highlight people.

Speaker D: 00:26:23

Great.

Speaker D: 00:26:24

Great question.

Speaker D: 00:26:25

So on our Instagram at Kindness is free.

Speaker D: 00:26:29

Org, we have what we call our Monday motivation.

Speaker D: 00:26:32

And so we will highlight members from all of our clubs, from all of our network of clubs, we'll highlight, we'll show a picture of the, of the, of the youth and, and then highlight kind of what that kid did.

Speaker D: 00:26:42

So you know, for an example, you know, 7 year old 11, Elise, she, she shared her snack when a, when a member forgot their lunch or forgot something, she, you know, did it.

Speaker D: 00:26:54

And so we, we're not only highlighting it here at our club, but we're highlighting it to over our 5,000 followers and, and, and, and all of our social, all of our social media networks to, to the world that this person shows kindness so that per, that youth gets to know like, oh man, you know, maybe this small act of kindness, not only am I being featured on the Instagram page, but maybe I'm inspiring someone, you know, across the country to, to do, to do kindness.

Speaker A: 00:27:18

You can even put on there that Hal, Elsa and Hur took the kindness pledge.

Speaker D: 00:27:24

Yes, we certainly can podcast Pressure.

Speaker C: 00:27:27

Pressure.

Speaker B: 00:27:28

Do you have any, do you have any other examples, any, any acts that kind of rocked your world or stuck with you or brought tears to your eyes?

Speaker D: 00:27:36

Yeah, this is actually a really cute one.

Speaker D: 00:27:38

That's a great question, Hunter.

Speaker D: 00:27:40

I think we in, in on April 1, we did our second annual kindness summit where we brought over 700 youth from all across Los Angeles together to do a conference style, kind of a conference style seminar on kindness.

Speaker D: 00:27:54

So we had a keynote speaker, we had some food, and then we partnered with the union Rescue mission in, in skid Row as well as Worthy of Love.

Speaker D: 00:28:01

And we did two service projects for them with all these kids and it was a wonderful thing.

Speaker D: 00:28:06

And at that summit we put out a, I think it was a, a $500 kindness challenge.

Speaker D: 00:28:15

And so we had all, and they're all teens, they're all 12 plus we had them.

Speaker D: 00:28:19

We, we always said to them, just go do an act of kindness, document it and share it with us.

Speaker D: 00:28:23

And so one of our, one of our youth at our La Puente site, she, she, she had that, she saw the challenge, she registered for it and then she, at home she, she saw something online or, or maybe on the news and it said men only get flowers at their funeral.

Speaker D: 00:28:43

So men never get flowers and unless it's like at their funeral or something like that, which I, I think is, is, is, it's sad.

Speaker D: 00:28:50

It's awfully sad.

Speaker D: 00:28:51

But she wanted to change that.

Speaker D: 00:28:52

So she saw something, was like, well, that's not very kind.

Speaker D: 00:28:55

And so she, what she did is the next week she actually started making flowers out of construction paper.

Speaker D: 00:29:03

And she made, I think 20 to 30 of them.

Speaker D: 00:29:05

And kids actually saw what she was doing.

Speaker D: 00:29:07

She shared the message of she was doing, and kids actually helped out and they ended up making around 200 flowers.

Speaker D: 00:29:14

And they went around the park and they were actually giving flowers, you know, to, to people that were in the park.

Speaker D: 00:29:22

And then they gave them to their families, to all the men as kind of like, hey, you know, we see you.

Speaker D: 00:29:26

You know, thank you so much.

Speaker D: 00:29:28

You know, here's a flower kind of thing.

Speaker D: 00:29:29

And we thought that was a really sweet thing.

Speaker D: 00:29:33

And it's really, it's really a highlight thing of this program that we're really kind of excited about or proud.

Speaker A: 00:29:39

I am, by the way, a big fan of flowers.

Speaker B: 00:29:46

Well, I'll see if I can find that little girl, Hal.

Speaker A: 00:29:49

There you go.

Speaker D: 00:29:50

We can get you one kind or what?

Speaker A: 00:29:55

All right, we're good.

Speaker A: 00:29:56

Well, let's, let's wrap up and let everybody know again what your website is, how people can kind of get involved, get engaged, take your pledge, and I guess, you know, bottom line is be kind.

Speaker A: 00:30:07

What's the bottom line here?

Speaker D: 00:30:10

The bottom line is, is as I would say, kindness is not a weakness.

Speaker D: 00:30:13

It's one of the greatest strengths you can possess, and it takes courage.

Speaker D: 00:30:17

So just, I'd say just make that choice.

Speaker D: 00:30:20

There's life's or day is full of thousands of choices.

Speaker D: 00:30:24

Choose the kind one.

Speaker D: 00:30:26

Also, I will say our website is www.kindnessisfree.org Instagram @kindness is free.

Speaker A: 00:30:34

Org.

Speaker D: 00:30:34

And if you tune into the rose Parade on January 1st, we have a float.

Speaker D: 00:30:39

We'll be in there for our fourth year.

Speaker D: 00:30:41

Take a look out for our Kindness float.

Speaker A: 00:30:44

So which, which the three of us will be glad to sit on.

Speaker D: 00:30:48

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:30:49

And wave at all the kind people on both sides of Colorado Boulevard.

Speaker A: 00:30:53

Really cool.

Speaker C: 00:30:54

Is it going to be the first time you're going to have a float?

Speaker D: 00:30:57

No, it's actually our, it's actually our fourth year.

Speaker D: 00:30:59

So we, it's, it's incredible.

Speaker D: 00:31:02

It's, you know, it's obviously amazing.

Speaker D: 00:31:04

We meet, we, we reach over, you know, 30 million people on that day with our message.

Speaker D: 00:31:10

And it's, it's such a great way to not only a national, but a global scale kind of spread kindness and hopefully kick off the new year in a kind way.

Speaker C: 00:31:19

I love it.

Speaker A: 00:31:19

Well, Scott, on behalf of Hunter and Elsa, Kindness and myself, Hal Kindness Eisner, thanks for being with us.

Speaker D: 00:31:28

Thank you guys so much for the time.

Speaker D: 00:31:29

I really appreciate it.

Speaker A: 00:31:31

And that's.

Speaker A: 00:31:32

What the hell, 2.0.

Speaker A: 00:31:34

I'm Hal Eisner.

Speaker A: 00:31:35

Along with Elsa Ramon and Hunter Lowry.

Speaker A: 00:31:37

This podcast is produced by Hunter.

Speaker A: 00:31:39

Jamie Knapp is our Technical Director Editor and he handles all of the post production production.

Speaker A: 00:31:45

Our original theme music is composed by Stuart Pearson.

Speaker A: 00:31:49

Earlier versions of the podcast were produced at the studios of Fox 11 in Los Angeles and are available through the link in our Show Notes.

Speaker A: 00:31:57

This version of the podcast is available on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker A: 00:32:03

And what the hell.

Speaker A: 00:32:04

2.0 Is produced in Los Angeles, California.