Making my way into San Jose for the day on The Kindness Bicycle, you would have thought the Thanksgiving Day Parade had come to town early. I don’t think I have ever received more cheers and car horn honks in any town previous. It was one after the other. I had to dust off my parade hand wave for all of the welcoming gestures.
The City of San Jose’s Domestic Violence Task Force at City Hall was my first stop. I stopped by to deliver information for a future visit and show support for the office of Eve Castellanos, Domestic Violence office coordinator. The funding for the program she runs has been cut because of a tight budget and it comes at a time when the city can afford, not to support it. The need for the Task Force is immeasurable; four lives thus far in 2011 have been lost in San Jose due to Domestic Violence. The Task Force works with every agency in the county to protect those in need.
Near day’s end, and after riding through many of the downtown streets, I stopped at San Jose State University and talked with students. One thing was clear from the conversations, The Kindness Bicycle is making a big difference.

What an incredible town! People from countries all over the world come to visit and explore all San Francisco has to offer. On this day, there was an unexpected sight, The Kindness Bicycle. I love when the world comes out to witness the common sense beauty of The Kindness Bicycle. I love receiving verbal and nonverbal affirmations as well. Some days I ride and don’t spend time having many conversations, letting the bike do all the talking so to speak, today was one of those days. I did however talk when people would initiate conversation, one of those conversations was with Aiko who was trained by SAVE in helping those affected by Domestic Violence. She immediately saw the impact of The Kindness Bicycle and came over to thank me. Knut and Ingrid from Norway talked with me about family matters in their country. Knut is a family attorney in Norway. He works to protect the abused. He loved the idea of a man riding such a bicycle. “Men need to tell men,” he said.
San Francisco has many great things to offer, one of them is that it is a great place to ride The Kindness Bicycle.

One of the easiest reads and most memorable books I have read in recent time is “365 Thank Yous.” The book tells the true life autobiographical story of John Kralik and how he discovered that the simple act of a handwritten thank you can have a powerfully positive effect on one’s well being. The book is convincing and leaves the reader with one solution, thank those who have helped you, by writing them a thank you.
I have been convinced by this book and have seen and felt a positive change in my life. The other upside is that people love hand written letters. They are becoming somewhat of a rarity. I recently heard a report that, on average, just 10 years ago, each person received a handwritten letter every two weeks. Today the average is one every seven weeks.
Do someone and yourself a favor, write a thank you today.
Today’s ride through Sunnyvale, California was along the busiest roads in this city, creating an intense interest everywhere I rode.

The prediction of early morning rain, almost delayed my ride from beginning early enough to complete my miles for the day. My travel to Sunnyvale, California, this afternoon in The Kindness Bus, did however.  Today’s shortened ride was through a very busy Fremont, where many families were out early heading to Sunday services. The Kindness Bicycle was an early morning conversation for many of those families, no doubt.
The group of four women who are shown in the background in today’s picture had just called me over to their picnic to learn about The Kindness Bicycle Tour. They were very vocal about wanting to see an end to these two tragedies
Thank you to the Brackett family for their thoughtfulness and hospitality, in opening their beautiful home to me, helping to make my stay in Fremont about as comfortable as life on the road can be.
So why is this man smiling? The group of four women thought I was in my early 30s.

Just like The Kindness Bus having a huge following, the message of The Kindness Bicycle is starting to spread virally. If a message or an idea is liked, especially by teens and young adults, because of social networking, the message has a chance of spreading globally. That is my wish for One Million Acts Of Kindness and the messages on The Kindness Bicycle.
Whenever I take a break from my daily ride, I try to lock The Kindness Bicycle in an area of high visibility. Yesterday, unbeknownst to me, I locked it near a high school which let out for the day, while I sat in a coffee shop and kept a watchful eye on it. I watched as a steady stream of hundreds of students walked by and took note of its signs. In the 45 minutes or so that I watched, at least 100 pictures were taken with camera phones. Watching, and trying to read the body language, it was easy to see that this generation wants no part of Domestic Violence or Childhood Sexual Abuse.
Today my ride began at a Health Fair which was sponsored by a local hospital. My ride was through the more densely populated regions of Fremont, to get as many views as possible. I’m hoping the word of this mission spreads globally.

By the way Rodney Clark, Executive Director of Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments of Fremont, California, and his very interested staff greeted me in their reception area of their offices, you would think that I am the only one in the world riding a bike with big signs espousing the importance of putting an end to Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse; that actually, may very well be the case. After the very warm welcome and some sharing of stories, Rodney and I retired to his office. Rodney proudly talked about his organization providing Prevention, Intervention and Support Services to a very diverse clientele in the San Francisco Bay area. He then told me a story of hope. A single mom who came through SAVE’s programs decided to give back by speaking to various groups about Domestic Violence. It was during one of those passionate talks when she met someone in the audience who was so moved by her story that she arranged for a “full ride” scholarship to Brown University. Such perfect karma.
Today’s ride was in perfect conditions on the very many safe bicycling paths throughout much of Fremont.

Rodney then told me a story of hope. A single mom who received help from SAVE when she was in need decided she should give back, to help others. She became a speaker to tell of her story and of the Domestic Violence she survived. After one of her talks, she was offered a “full ride” scholarship to Brown University. Talk about perfect karma!
Today’s ride was in near perfect weather. Fremont has extensive bike lanes on most roadways throughout the city, making my ride very enjoyable.

To the left is a poem written by a 14 year old girl assigned to CASA in Sacramento.
Carol Noreen is the Executive Director of CASA; Court Appointed Special Advocate office in Sacramento. Carol is very dedicated to protecting children. She had a full schedule when I called and no time to meet with me, so she cancelled her lunch to make our meeting happen. Our meeting focused on prevention, breaking the cycle by prevention.
“Family Finding and Engagement” is a great tool to locate, engage, connect and support family resources for youth. This is one of the very important programs that CASA uses to better the lives of children in their charge.
The focus of teaching children at the earliest moment, and all through their life, to respect and care for one another, is the only way to break the cycle of abuse.
Abuse is a learned behavior. Kindness is a learned behavior. Which one should we be teaching our children?