I was recently invited to an Elementary School in the county to talk to a group of third graders. The reason why I was invited is because they wanted me to talk about my experience as a foreigner in the United States. There was an additional and very particular reason. One new student, who is from a different country, has been struggling to make new friends. And some of the current students have not been too supportive.
This made me think about something. Kindness doesn’t belong to one specific culture or country. Acceptance is not specific to a region or nation. These things should be universal. Kindness is something that should be practiced in every language. It should be something practiced at any age. There is no doubt that children imitate what they see at home. I would like to encourage all parents reading this to lead by example. Let’s inculcate in our kids the importance of being kind, even during disagreements.
One of the things I told this group of students was, “A simple gesture of kindness is enough to change a person’s whole world.” I stand by that! We hear many stories of what a simple gesture of kindness meant to some people. I always like to share this story of something that happened to me when I was in school in Venezuela. I was probably 14 years old when a friend at school told me, “You know why people respect you? Because you are kind to everyone.” I remember these words like it was yesterday.
This next portion is taken from Walking the Beat from a year ago: One of my favorite movies to watch with my family is Wonder. This movie has some of the best, most uplifting lines you can imagine. If you haven’t seen this movie, don’t worry. I will not ruin it by quoting the whole movie…just the best lines 😊 “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind…”, “Be kind for everyone is fighting a hard battle.”
If you haven’t seen this movie, please do. It is an excellent movie. Last year, I said that maybe this topic didn’t fall into Safety and Security, but now that I think about it, it does. Letting our emotions take hold of us is dangerous. We need to be in control of the things we say and do. That’s the reason why always thinking about how our words and actions can impact everyone around us is so important. So, hopefully, you can have this chat with your student this weekend.
Thank you for helping us to keep our students safe! I can’t tell you enough how thankful I am for having the opportunity to be part of your student’s story. If you have questions, please email me at gabe.uribe@stemk12.org, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you again for your time…GO SPARTANS!
Be safe!
Deputy Gabe