Positive Slactivism could be better

Malcolm Gladwell makes a very impressive argument regarding activism in today's society.  I try to stay away from too much activism as it tends to be very negative.  I would like to make a point about positive activism I experienced at the beginning of March.  I drove into my home town and found blue ribbons rapped around trees I have known since I was a little girl.  They were placed along the street I grew up on and they were beside the very church I was married in. I asked my father as I drove him for his day surgery if he knew anything about them and he said, "No Victoria but they look nice, don't they?"

I didn't go on twitter and check a hashtag to find out what these blue ribbons meant but I did find myself looking in stores to see why there was ribbons in little boxes that resembled the boxes we see out before Remembrance Day.  As I threw my reading glasses on I saw that the boxes were marked 'Random act of Kindness Week.'  I wanted to join in like I have never joined something before. I immediately put a toonie in the box and put a ribbon on my coat.  When my mother passed away in October 2011 I put the words 'Pay it Forward' in her obituary.

This activism was only happening in my home town of Belleville.  I wore a blue ribbon everywhere back in my native land but everyone was asking me where I got it.  While in Belleville I gave people coffees, told managers that there employees were doing a splendid job and even gave my brother a 'step up' in life which was a very big thing for me to do at the time.  Long story short I ended up in the hospital due to many factors but while in there the love kept flowing from me and I know I helped others as they helped me.  I did not have a phone or internet access and during my stay I had many people join my mission.

The hashtag #iranelection rings very close to me as I met a man in hospital that refused to open his eyes as the pain was too great for him. I reminded him everyday that he was safe in Canada and he would laugh and say, "Thank you Vicki!"  He taught me some words in Farsi and when he left the hospital I cried like a baby because he was the kindest soul I had ever met.  Talk about a random act of kindness!

You don't need the internet or text messaging to make a point.  Put your hand on a person's shoulder and show them you believe in the same cause and before you know it others will do the same.

I am not sure if the blue ribbons are a wink from God and my Mom but those blue ribbons have changed my life and I hope this story helps change yours just enough to realize we are spending too much time being active in something we don't have the least bit of real interest in.  Try being active in a positive cause like the fellows at the Woolworth's counter and you will make a change.  Better yet teach your children to be positively active as well!