Thirty-eight years and counting since my last speech. I think it was speech class in tenth grade. The only thought of speaking, that I remember was loving to use props to get my points across. This should be a slam-dunk; I have the best prop a guy could possibly have, The Kindness Bus itself. The second, being Bogart the Magnificent. You can only practice a speech so many times. The only one that counts is the one you give. With that in mind, I decided that I have heard so many great stories from the few short months on the road that I could talk for hours from the heart. When you believe in One Million Acts of Kindness as passionately as I do, the words and thoughts just come naturally.

There were more than two thousand schoolchildren and a couple hundred adults attending this Kickoff for Kindness event of Project Love. What a great team Mary Alice Casalina has. The event was as smooth running as one could expect. It was an honor to have been a part of the presentation. Talking with the kids, during lunch and after the event, it was clear that most were positively impacted by the day’s events. The trip back from the Tennessee/Georgia border was well worth the effort, by being able to talk to such a large group with the hopes of having a positive impact in their lives. The Kindness Bus Tour is making great in-roads into schools much earlier than expected.  I have been invited to speak at five school events to date. Not having an expertise in this area, I plan to invest time in becoming much better speaker. As stressful as giving a speech can be, after such a long hiatus, I have to admit I was stoked and had a blast. A very big thank you to Project Love and all involved.

Note;  During my speech I tried to inspire kids to live the life of one of three very positive role-models and the powerful core value that the role-model stood for. I asked the kids that if they felt inspired enough during the course of my speech, that they could make a constant effort throughout their lives of adopting those core values, I would give them a framed  vow of the role-model they chose to emulate. The role-models are as follows;

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.     –    Living a life of Peaceful Solutions
• Mother  Teresa                           –     Living a life of Humanitarian Aid
• Mahatma Gandhi                       –     Living a life of Charity

I brought with me six framed  vows, two of each role-model. The following children made a vow to hang the framed vow in their bedroom and look at it every day, as a reminder to be inspired to emulate their chosen role-model.

1. Natasia
2. Kristina
3. Ebony
4. Vanna
5. Angel
6. Dominique

May your hands and your voices forever be instruments of Peace, Charity, and Humanitarian Aid.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under Kindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.