Kent State was the first college the Kindness Bus Tour visited at the beginning of the school year. Every college is worth a second visit. Several kids remembered us from the “maiden voyage”. That was very encouraging. We headed straight for the Student Center, which has a highly traveled corridor at class change-over. Bogart, sans any sort of fall wear, was a crowd favorite. Big surprise. A young woman complimented me on him being an “ice breaker”. I assured her he is much more than that. Moeglii, a female student attending Kent State, lives in Columbus and has a Boston Terrier who she misses badly. She had Bogart nearly paralyzed as she scratched him behind the ears. I’m sure her dog would have been jealous. Sonya and Robin, two women on campus today were completely blown away when they heard the premise of One Million Acts Of Kindness. They couldn’t wait to get to a computer to visit the website.
Bogart and I worked the campus for nearly four hours today talking to groups of students, over five hundred students in total. A number of students seated in the Student Center would come out as they saw us through the windows. Hannah, one such student, completely made my day and brought into perspective the reason I love doing this. She told me a story, from a couple months back, of how her boyfriend was in a funk for quite some time. He just wasn’t happy with the way life was headed and how cold people are towards each other. He attends Akron University. All that changed one day in early September. That was the day The Kindness Bus Tour visited Akron University. Apparently, he and I talked, and a bit of hope came back into his life as he learned of One Million Acts Of Kindness. All of us can learn from this message Hannah imparted. One little act of kindness can have a huge impact on anyone else at any given time. Just think what One Million Acts Of Kindness can do.
**Bogart -vs- Squirrels update; As Bogart and I were heading off campus through a stand of trees, an unsuspecting squirrel was crawling down the far side of a mature maple tree. All of us were out of view of each other. Just as we neared the tree, the squirrel came into view within two feet of Bogart. I don’t know who jumped higher; the squirrel, Bogart or me. Bogart is still 0 for about 1,254. That is a good thing.
