Stories of Kindness from Around the World

My birthday party tomorrow : ) 7-8:45pm


--by omarsison, posted Aug 14, 2008

It is hard--hard to say just where the story is in this tremendous collaboration of kindness among strangers who would otherwise be anymous passersby making their way to familiar places and faces...but not last night, because last night they found something worth stopping for.

What do you call a gathering of newly acquainted peace and justice workers--students of principled nonviolence, kind-hearted artists, conversation artists, quiet revolutionaries, paradigm shift engineers, brothers, sisters, fathers, sons and daughters--gathering outside a Berkeley BART station, crouched down to the brick-laid ground wielding sticks of colorful sidewalk chalk, drawing and writing their honest truths, illustrating their loftiest dreams, quoting the sages of their souls... running the risk of revealing their loving selves, their brighter selves which hide beneath an ever-loosening costume of apathy and unconcern?

The softening colors of a lotus doodled on the brick; an exploding mandala contained by words of peace and hope; a toddler tossing chalk stick about as if to remind us that they aren't just for drawing; cellphone iphone camera flashes from people who were simply on their way home. People, people, people all around, watching, standing, drawing, reflecting, wondering, listening, laughing, asking, "what group are you with?"

I replied, "Oh, it Chris' birthday and we thought it would be nice to go for a walk downtown and bring some chalk, spread some smiles, send some positive messages. He's right over there!" I'd point them to the birthday Chris.

I'll admit; I had my reservations when I read the emailed invitation "My birthday party tomorrow". Didn't think I'd go to the party. Didn't want to make a scene. But, to my great relief, I didn't make a scene...We all did!...all of us who picked up chalk, all of us who watched, everyone who gave a few minutes to send out a personal cry for peace to the great big universe of which we are all a part!

A simple "thank you" says it all, eh, Chris?



999 Reads
  • Posted by omarsison
  • Aug 14, 2008
  • 18 Smiles, 7 Comments



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