i am kind.
June 21, 2012
“You are kind like my teacher Karen. I am sorry those kids were mean” -Lucy, age 6
So you may have heard or seen the story of Karen Klein that raced through the internet yesterday. Karen is a grandmother and bus monitor in Greece, New York. A 10 minute video was released on 6/20 of her being verbally abused by some kids on the bus. Honestly, I could only watch about 3 minutes of it. It was really, really bad. You can read the story here: http://huff.to/PvAgVU (warning: the verbal abuse is graphic- lots of expletives)
The moment you first see something so mean, you say a little prayer in your heart for the person being abused and pray, pray, and wish this is an isolated incident…but somewhere in your soul, you know it probably isn’t. I start to wonder if I live in a kindness bubble, and I know I do….BUT then something else rises in me- this work, this belief we hold so close around here- that Kindness Changes Everything.
There is this drive to hold on to it closer than ever, to return it in an overwhelming expression, to find it in the places you would least expect it, to ask people to stand up tall in it. We have to make the connections for people that have suffered terribly as a result of extreme unkindness. We have to be and offer what we want to see in the world. We have to believe it is not only possible, but real and thriving….and bigger than anything else.
So here is what we came up with:
1. We created a I AM KIND Facebook page for kids, adults, all human beings to take a pledge of Kindness in honor of Karen and all those that have endured a similar experience. We are doing that by offering photos of us holding signs saying “I AM KIND.” Pictures in front of school buses would be especially awesome!
You can upload all your pics to the Facebook page here. OR e-mail them to patience@kindnessgirl.com .
2. We are leaving notes and pictures with the words “You are LOVED” for Karen on the Facebook page too!
3. We still believe there is some kindness magic in Greece, NY and would love to send them some wands! Does anyone have a contact there or would be willing to hide some there for us? Let us know in the comments or e-mail me!
Thank you all for holding the space for kindness today…and for returning it in critical times when the world and people really need to know it exists! Love to you all!
If you can help spread the word of this project via Facebook or Twitter, that would be great!
Other good news: Funds raised to send Karen on a vacation! over $119K in less than 24hours
another place to share your love for Karen! Kindness For Karen Facebook Page
Kindnessgirl 
June 21, 2012 at 6:44 am
My heart goes out to Karen. I was only able to listen to it for about 30 seconds. I read below the video that the CHILDREN are going to be facing disciplinarian actions. They should be forced to have to watch what they did to this wonderful lady in front of their parents and then let their parents be embarrassed because of the actions fo their children. It astonishes me that CHILDREN, albeit teenagers can be so cruel. Where does all that HATE come from. I’m so sad at this moment 😦
June 21, 2012 at 8:25 am
Ofcourse this video made me dreadfuly sad, but it also made me extremely curious. I think anyone, especially a child, has to be very unhappy for cruel acts to make them feel good. Why were those children so repeatedly cruel to this woman? Are they miserable? Do adolescents have some sort of natural proclivity towards Lord of the Flies bullying group think? I am flummoxed.
June 21, 2012 at 9:12 am
I am not suprised. The level of violence in games, movies and tv affects how children think. It affects what they come to believe as normal or acceptable behavior.
I do not belong to facebook. Is there some way to send a message to her directly through the news outlet??
June 21, 2012 at 9:53 am
I too was deeply saddened by this video, but as Linda mentioned, I am not surprised. This type of bullying to adults and other children is happening much too frequently and is being tolerated in schools when it shouldn’t be. I felt that the bus driver should have pulled over, got out her cell phone and called the school to have each of the kids picked up by their parents directly from the bus. There does need to be much more kindness in the world but there should also be an intolerance for bullying!
June 21, 2012 at 9:55 am
This story broke my heart into pieces. I haven’t yet had the courage to watch the video. I’ll add my kindness to your new FB page as soon as I can. I can’t even fathom as to why these kids would have done such an awful thing to another person. Maybe being cruel is cheap and easy for some. Kindness takes more work and thought. You have to keep building those kindness muscles or they atrophy. Sending kindness to Karen & so many others who have been wounded by cruelty.
June 21, 2012 at 1:48 pm
shared your “i am kind.” fb page with The Ellen Show & Ellen DeGeneres’ personal page on fb – Ellen had just posted that the video broke her heart… she is a strong & vocal advocate against bullying in any form… also posted the link to your fb page “i am kind.” on the article released on yahoo.com regarding the huge outpouring of compassion for karen.. as of 3 hours ago (when the article was posted), over $200,000 has been raised to give karen a much needed vacation…
June 23, 2012 at 2:00 am
I was bullied when I was a child, and I know first hand how much it hurts. I am new on my computer and haven’t yet figured out how to post a picture, but I will say with a happy heart ‘ I AM KIND!” I will have someone help me with my picture to post. Keep up the good work…kindness does change things.
June 27, 2012 at 7:22 am
[…] story is a little back dated but just keep reading, you might want to join. when i read this post here. i wanted to know more of what happened. it happened on the 20th […]
June 27, 2012 at 1:05 pm
[…] was orchestrated but it does make a great anti bullying campaign. Kindness Girl has created a great campaign called ‘I Am Kind’ as a response, kindness can change everything right? If you’d like to join the ‘I am […]
January 1, 2013 at 9:37 am
[…] brought the I Am Kind campaign after Karen Klein was verbally assaulted on a school bus. So many rallied around this woman who […]