I believe that we have become a society that has formed an opinion on who deserves kindness. Our society tends to think that one must ‘deserve’ kindness, mainly determined by their situation. We associate a bad situation with creating a need for care. I want to break this stigma. Since everyone deserves to see the best we have to offer, as well as not knowing what adversity a person is facing, it can only ever help someone to show kindness and care for one another. I believe that the first step to accomplishing this is to raise awareness about how we are more alike than one may believe.
Firstly, I would like to start a “We Are One” campaign at my school; it will be an anonymous confessional where students can write what strife they have faced, caring acts they have received or done, and how these acts of kindness have impacted them. People are living life’s unbeknownst to their peers. I want people to see that caring for someone doesn’t have to be because of circumstance and tragedy that is visible by society. Caring is free to hand out but can be rich in effect. This “We Are One” campaign can show people that they have a community within their school that they never knew of. Showing that when someone cares for another, it can impact his or her entire world.
Secondly, much of society believes that happy people are kind, however, I challenge this by saying that kind people are happy. Happiness does not cause people to care, in fact, it is the opposite. I want to encourage this claim, because high schoolers are competitive by nature, I want to create a ‘Caring Challenge’ for students. UCA has Caring Challenges, and I would build off of that and also encouraging people not to take credit for the acts of kindness that they show. Being caring should not be something that makes us feel like we are doing it for ourselves. It is a selfless act that consequently has a positive impact on ourselves as well. The Caring Challenge would be measured not by a quantitative measurement, but by the change in the atmosphere of the school. Cleaning up the school, the level of work accomplished, and the quality of friendships are all attributes I believe will increase and change as a result of being caring and kind.
Finally, I believe that a Caring Ambassador should lead by example. I will invite people to join in the work I already do, showing them what I do to care so that they may join. From feeding the homeless to mentoring high-risk youth, I have tried to be a role model for being kind. I don’t do this to be a representative or the face of caring, but I do it so that my life and the privileges I have can encourage those around me. I am not the role model- my actions are. As a Caring Ambassador, I will encourage others actions to be the role model. Our society has the power to change the way that we see being kind and caring. I believe in exposing that power of change to show how much influence being kind has in our community.