Ishmail R.

Coleman

4/6/13

Personal Relationships

While completing this 26 Acts of Kindness project dedicated to the victims of the Sandy
Hook Massacre, I realized the importance of being kind to others and the impact that it can have
within our society. For me, completing that project was somewhat difficult because I am a bit
shy when dealing with new people, especially at random. Nonetheless, I bottled my shyness and
gave my one hundred percent effort while completing this project, which turned out to be great.
I felt proud to see people react nicely when an act of kindness was brought upon them and I felt a
bit puzzled when I saw people react negatively. The negative reactions made me wonder why
someone would act rude toward a person trying to brighten their day with kindness, especially
when its for a good cause. I dwelled on that thought throughout the project, for I was still
unable to formulate a logical explanation to why someone would react harshly. However, when
considering the state of the world currently, with all of the inhumane things that are occurring, I
dont blame them for acting in that manner because they were just protecting their well-being.
Before this project, I never dwelled on the subject of being kind to others that much. I
only considered being kind to myself and the people around me, but not so much toward outside
forces. I thought, Well whats the point when people are either not going to care afterwards or
just take advantage of you. Why would I invest time and energy into something that is not
guaranteed to be returned back to me? Then I soon realized that kindness wasnt about being
repaid the same back, but about lifting another persons sprit and brightening their day. You
never know what that other person is going through within their life and probably needs that
extra positive energy from another human to recharge their batteries. As a result of your good
deeds, karma will repay you back greatly for all of the positive energy you placed into the
universe.
This project has had a significant impact on my life in such a short amount of time that it
is mind blowing. After a while, I didnt even document things that I was doing as kindness,

Ishmail R. Coleman

4/6/13

Personal Relationships

because I didnt realize I was doing them. It was as if kindness and helping others became
natural to me. My relationship with my immediate family became better because I began to
enlighten them more on positive things that they can do within themselves and the community
that can bring about a mass amount of change. My relationship with my girlfriend became better
because I began to recognize all of the kind things that we would do for each other, and I started
to appreciate them more. Furthermore, this project strengthened me to want to do more for my
African American community when I get older so I can show them that we can actually make a
difference just by being kind to one another.
In all, this project made me appreciate life more and made me a better person. I began to
reflect on not only the lives lost in the Sandy Hook Massacre, but all lives lost due to inhumane
actions. It baffles me to see how people want to make changes within this world, but they
continue to kill or harm people for no reason. All that does is bring negative energy into the
atmosphere and causes people to act accordingly because that is all that they are seeing. You
barley see anything positive being presented into the news, unless it has to deal with the
aftermath of a tragedy. These actions do not deter crime, but encourages more people to do the
same because they want that feeling of acceptance amongst society. It kills me to see how much
recognition the killers of these massacres get afterwards, honestly. I wouldnt even be doing this
project if it wasnt for a tragedy that occurred, which is sad that kindness is only recognized
when in relation to death. However, this project did have a positive impact on the way I view the
world, my personal life and the lives of others and I am grateful that I partook in this project.