Author Archive | Right Brain

Has the power of art ever affected you? There has to be a reason why so many motivational (and de-motivational!) posters are sold. We can relate to others and enjoy the way a concept is presented to us.

Myself, I had changed schools twelve times in six towns and two States by the time I graduated high school and I don’t think I ever saw the kind of bullying described here – thank God – nor the hateful torments that make headlines in our newspapers today. When I moved from one side of the Mason-Dixie line to the other as a thirteen-year-old, the culture difference was black and white. In more ways than one. My accent, interrupting the class in the middle of the school year, was discordant in a town centered around the battlefield of a bloody Civil War fight. The kids there weren’t interested in being friendly with an outsider.

In the cafeteria, I sent messages with my eyes that more than balanced the discomfort level. Previously, a tongue as sharp as a scalpel had been my weapon. Isn’t it funny how we arm ourselves in one way or another?

But, lucky me.

Our neighborhood was a border one, so we had the choice of my mom driving us to the snotty school in town or taking a bus to a friendly school up in the hills. It sounds so stereotypical, doesn’t it? My experience regarding kids who were different in some way was more that they were ignored. I never saw anyone beaten up for their lunch money or overtly made fun of for their appearance. That was decades ago and maybe I was oblivious. Or I’ve forgotten. Maybe lucky. Maybe I never stayed around long enough to see what was really going on.

But I think things have changed for the worse. I can’t imagine the trouble I would have gotten in at home if I had bullied someone.

I see plenty of rudeness and just plain meanness in online forums. Just reading the comment section after a newspaper article can make me shake my head in disbelief.

Hurtful words and actions can do more damage than sticks and stones, of course.

Leo Buscaglia, a writer and professor wrote about the reverse to meanness.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

There’s an art to spreading lasting kindness, too. Do you want to see a caring person?

Go, look in the mirror!

You wouldn’t be still reading if you weren’t a sensitive person.

Now, go use your power of art to spread kindness in the world. 🙂

Leave a comment and tell us what you’ve done, if you want.