guerrilla goodness: rubber kindness
March 20, 2011
Having an 8 and 10 year old is definitely a plus in the kindness department, you never know what great idea they will spring on you at any moment. The best part is that you are reminded of all the fun things you did back in the day. Stuff like pouring glue on your hand, letting it dry and peeling it off. ‘Member THAT? Wasn’t it awesome? So Josiah brought back an oldie but a goodie today.
There is nothing better than shooting rubber bands. Josiah discovered the secret message rubber band magic. All you need are some rubber bands and sharpies/permanent markers. The fatter the rubber bands the better.
Simply stretch them out on a book or something you can easily write on. Write a message you need to tell the world, something you need to hear, read or see. I wrote a bunch of tiny wishes on mine. Here are some ideas:
Believe in Love
I believe in you
It can happen, don’t give up
You can do it
Love will find you, don’t you worry
You are amazing
You are so worthy, more than you can ever know
You are doing it
Don’t be scared, JUMP!
You are worth it
Then unstretch, depending how you wrote it, you may or may not be able to read it. My boys think it’s better the more secret message-y you can make them. Leave your rubber bands some place for someone to find. Or even better, SHOOT them some where- only if you are a decent shot though. A rubber band to the face would suuuuccckkkk! My kids are devastated I made them get rid of those rad rubber band guns. It’s okay though, because thanks to the internets, you can make anything out of legos, which are even cooler.
I asked my boys if they thought this was worthy of a kindness mission and they whole heartedly agreed, so now I have a load of rubber bands in my bag and around my arm to leave places*. I thought the mission should be called, “Stretchy Kindness” but they insisted on “Rubber Kindness” which just sounds like some sort of kind birth control but you know, I’ll take it!
I’m just excited that the kindness ideas seem to have no end and can be found anywhere, even while shooting rubber bands.
*if you are in RVA, you might wanna look around Crossroads Coffee shop!
Kindnessgirl 
March 22, 2011 at 9:22 am
What a great idea!! I love it!! I’ll have to scope out Crossroads. 😉
April 2, 2011 at 8:19 am
Hey there…check out my blog…we’ve been doing some stretchy kindness toooo! 🙂
http://enjoyrightnow-artsymama.blogspot.com/2011/04/stretchy-kindness.html
LOVE the idea…it is so simple, but so very powerful!! 🙂
Thanks…
April 4, 2011 at 8:38 pm
love how yours turned out B!!! and the phrases you used!
August 22, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I love this one. It reminds of me of an experience i had several years ago. I was in the hospital after being in a crazy scooter accident. I was pretty messed up…bruised and broken. My colleagues came to visit me and noticed a wrist band the hospital had put on. it was one of those paper wrist bands that you get to gain entrance to bars, events, etc. On it, a nurse had written “Falls” in this jarring black, sharpie scrawl. My friends were appalled by this, awkward though well intentioned safety device. I was vulnerable to falling because I couldn’t stand and I was dizzy. The bracelet was to alert anyone on staff who encountered me. A few days after their visit, one of the other librarians at the library where I worked, returned to the hospital with a handful of these paper bracelets that she had gotten from a bar down the street from her house and a couple sharpies. We proceeded to make a supply of bracelets with uplifting and sometimes funny messages like: wipes own butt! Stops moving vehicles with her bare hands. does anything she wants.
I still have those bracelets (as well as the one that said: falls) six years later. They are a testament to all that I have overcome, all my hard work and the kindness of a coworker.
September 29, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I LOVE this one. i just happened to run across an article in richmond.com about you and have been soooo inspired by what you do. its so true that the small things in life are really what should matter. a smile. a kiss. a stranger saying hello. your ideas reminded me of how much something so small can seem so big to someone who needs it. just needs someone, anyone to offer a few words of incouragement. this stretchy idea is great! im in my car almost all day long driving back and forth around richmond. ít would be so easy to shoot a rubber band or drop one in an elevator for someone to find something small. but meaningful. Thanks sooo much for the inspiration! its nice to know theirs soo much kindness in RVA
February 29, 2012 at 8:55 pm
[…] For Day 2, I wanted to do something random and inexpensive. I decided to do some rubber kindness, inspired by this post from kindness girl. […]
March 5, 2012 at 11:05 am
take a bunch of rubber kindness down to the General Assembly 🙂 love you girl…
March 5, 2012 at 6:29 pm
Love love this!! Could use in so many ways- may think of putting them in my gift bags for shelters!
January 14, 2015 at 1:14 pm
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