The six-year-old kids in transitional kindergarten at Tropical Elementary, in Merritt Island, Florida, began talking about kindness in class. Now they’re working to emphasize kindness on a grander scale. Over the last 18 months, Barbara Wilcox and her students have designed and shared a symbol that represents kindness. “We already have and use symbols for love, peace, and happiness. A kindness symbol will add to our national focus of being kind,” they say on a Change.org petition to have the symbol adopted nationally. Whether writing letters to community leaders, managing the petition, or visiting members of congress, the students are working hard as “kindness emissaries,” as Wilcox says, inviting those who value kindness to join them. So far, city councils throughout Brevard County, Florida, and in Bellbrook City, Ohio, have recognized the symbol—small yet significant steps to expand the spotlight on kindness.
A Joyful RetreatIn September, InsightLA hosted “Creating Joy in Community,” the first residential meditation retreat by and for transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and genderqueer (collectively, trans*) people. Mindfulness and Buddhist practitioners, as well as new meditators, attended the four-day program. It was broadly accessible, thanks to scholarships (from donations), care for accessibility needs,…
