Guest Post: An Act of KINDness

I’m also excited about what I’m posting about today.  Laura and I are, as you probably know if you’re readers of either of us, part of an online community and network of Healthy Living bloggers. Now while I don’t post recipes (ever) and I post about exercise only occasionally (read: when I have had a good week and not been as lazy as I’d like to be).  I like to think that my blog is more about Healthy LIVING…meaning, things about my life that help me enjoy every moment of it — finding new musical artists, simplifying my life, performing, spending time with friends, etc.  Exercise and eating well are very important to me because they will only help to extend my awesome life, right? RIGHT!

Earlier this week, I attended a meeting of the Denton Women’s Collective, which is, quite simply, a group for women, dedicated to making a difference in our community and hopefully in the lives of other women.  This is a group started by Lindsay, and my friend Rachel has been trying to get me to attend for a few months now.  I finally was able to find time in my ridiculous schedule to attend and I am so very glad I did! 

that’s me in the green dress!

The subject of this month’s meeting was the Kind Campaign, and the soon-to-be-released documentary Finding Kind. Here’s the trailer for the documentary:

Started by Pepperdine University alumnae Lauren Parsekian and Molly Stroud, the campaigns mission is short but very clear and powerful: "A movement and documentary, based upon the powerful belief in KINDness, that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl "crime."

It touched me down to my core when I realized how much of what I read on that web site was so very true.  Girls/women can be awful to one another.  Guys?  They beat each other up once and their disagreements are usually settled.  Girls?  Not so much.  We manipulate.  We compete. We hold grudges.  We start rumors and gossip.  Why?  For solidarity?  To get something we want that another woman has? To make ourselves feel better? All of these things were discussed at the DWC meeting on Monday night, and the group has made a goal to try to host a screening at a local school, preferably for elementary and middle-school aged girls, as we agreed that was one of the hardest times in most of our lives, emotionally, physically and mentally.  Oh, and let’s not forget socially.  Here‘s an excerpt from the "truth wall" section of the Finding Kind site:

I’m in sixth grade at Valley Catholic Elementry School. From the first day of kindergarten, i have been teased and bullied. I’ve been called things like fat, b****, slut, dumb, anorexic, uguly, trash, stupid, rich, stuck up, liar, and SO many other things. I’ve been beat up. Alot of the time, I don’t want to or am scared to go to school. I can’t stand it there. For a long time, it’s benn my living h***. Sometimes I get so scared that I get phisically ill. On facebook, someone said they didn’t think i was a virgin. I’m stinkin’ 12 years old. That same person said she’d marry me next time she saw me. She’s photo-shopped so many pictures of me and they were really inappropriate and REALLY hurt my feelings. Eventually it got so bad that I tried to kill myself. It has’nt changed one bit and there are days where I still come home wanting and wishing to be dead and not wake up in the morning. I actually told my mom after shool today that I’d rather be dead. This year has been the worst of them all. 1 in every 100 school days I come home happy. In other words, it’s REALLY rare. Even the only friend I have at School, and I’m beggining to question our friendship, how sorry she truely is, and how well I know her. I wish I could be accepted for who I am and only that. What does it take now a days to get a friend?! I want one really bad. My mom always said these two things, "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer," and "friend is like a penny in your pocket." I want that penny. It’s all I’ve EVER wanted. And look where I am now. No friends, wanting to die and only surrounded by judges.Like I said before, I wish someone, ANYONE, could accept me for who I am and only that.

I could go on and on and on about this topic (and I probably will on my own blog over the course of this project that the DWC is trying to put together), but since this is Laura’s blog and I’m a guest here, I will keep it simple:

• Check out the Finding Kind web site.
• Ask yourself — how can I be KIND to someone, preferably a girlfriend or a girl friend, today?
• Also ask yourself — is there a woman in my life with whom I need to right a wrong?  
• If you are local, consider coming to a DWC meeting as we move forward with trying to host a screening.  If you are not local, consider forming a local Women’s Collective (and be sure you let me know) in your own town. 
• Most importantly — remember that part of Healthy Living is Healthy LIVING. I think it’s safe to say that being KIND, to ourselves and to others, falls under that category.

KINDly, Mandy