Carlos was a Captain in the Army, retiring in the early 1970s. I met him yesterday in Manhattan sitting on a park bench. He sat by himself wearing his ball cap with the Army logo. It was adorned with medals he was awarded from his time served in Laos and Vietnam. I approached him, as I do most Veterans I talk with on the streets, with a “thank you for your service to our country.” A big smile spread across his face. He doesn’t hear words like that often enough and he certainly didn’t hear words like that when he came home in the 70s. He shared with me his stories and showed me his ankle with plates and several screws that has been a challenge to walk on for nearly 40 years. He has bayonets scars, pointing out the one visible in the side of his neck. He was in a group of 180 men and only 6 came home.
Here he sat near City Hall on a very busy street, as throngs of people walked by his food cart as he watched from a distance and recounted his days in his service to our country. He is a very proud man, one of millions of men and women with stories to share if you just take a few moments to say hello and thank you.
Welcome home Captain!
Please help us spread our message of a Goal of Kindness to schoolchildren across the country. Your donations are crucial to making this a reality.
Mail donations to:
One Million Acts Of Kindness
PO Box 770054
Lakewood, OH 44107
You can also donate through PayPal:
Bogart is my travel companion on The Kindness Bus Tour for the next ten years. We will be on the road traveling to campuses across the country. Bogart is a eight year old Boston Terrier. He is a great people dog... he loves meeting new people. I am Bogart's fourth owner in his short 8 years of life... Not because of him but because his three previous owner's lifestyles changed after they took him in... Lucky for me!! Bogart is the luckiest, most spoiled dog on the face of the earth. He loves the bus and he loves to travel. Please come and visit him when we are on your campus.
The Blue Bird Corporation donated this amazing bus to One Million Acts of Kindness, allowing us the continue this initiative. It has been painted to closely resemble the original Kindness Bus. It will last well beyond the ten years of this mission. A very big thank you to Blue Bird from Bob Votruba and Bogart too!!
The original Kindness bus has been donated to a professor at Virginia Tech who will use it on campus and at schools in the Blacksburg area. The Kindness Bus will continue to inspire and comfort residents, students and visitors in that area for years to come.
One Million Acts Of Kindness is a goal. A goal for each person to individually perform One Million Acts Of Kindness in their life. Can you imagine a greater goal for one's life? It is a constant mind-set of kindness every day of your life for the next fifty-five years. Doing for others and kindness in your heart for everyone. It is my wish that you will dedicate your life to a charity... finding the passion in your heart for something or someone in need.
As a father of three college age kids I am concerned for the world in which all kids will live. A great way to create a safer, more caring world is for everyone to start their lifetime goal of One Million Acts Of Kindness. So I bought a bus, had about sixty family members, friends and neighbors help paint it and began a ten year journey with my Boston Terrier, Bogart, to college campuses across the country hoping to convince as many of you as possible about this much needed movement for this world. I love you guys too much to sit back and not do anything about this. Let's start a kindness movement in this country today to change the direction this world is headed!! You are the change that this world needs.