Anti-bullying speaker shares message of kindness in Royalston

ROYALSTON – Sometimes, being kind is easy, and sometimes, it takes a little courage.

Brian Williams, founder of the Reno, Nevada,-based nonprofit Think Kindness brought his message to the students in all four schools in the Athol Royalston Regional School District on Monday and Tuesday of this week. His final appearance was at the Royalston Community School on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

One of the hallmarks of a Brian Williams assembly is, at least for younger students, a lot of call and answer; he calls and the youngsters answer – resoundingly. Williams started out by telling the students assembled about his experience earning his first black belt in martial arts.

“I had been training for this day,” he explained. “As (my trainer) held out the black belt to me, and then he asked me this question; ‘Brian, do you know why you’re getting this belt?’ So, I said, ‘Yes, because of all my kicks and my punches.’ And he goes, ‘No. That’s not why.’

“Again, I had been training for years on my kicks and my punches. He said, ‘Yeah, you know all about that, you can do your martial arts moves, but you also had some kindness challenges. At first they were pretty easy, but then they got harder and harder and harder. Ever since I’ve been seeing you as a little kid I’ve been training you to be a kindness ninja.”

Most people, he said, think of ninjas as those who slink around at night. A kindness ninja, he added, is different.

“A kindness ninja is someone who goes out in broad daylight and does nice things for people without anyone knowing who they are,” he said. “Now, I don’t think you need to be a black belt to be a kindness ninja.”

Williams added that he has been on a journey to find the school that can claim to be the kindest in the United States. He then posed a challenge to the students of RCS to do what it takes to earn that title, giving them 15 days to make a difference.

Williams told the children that being kind sometimes takes courage. He told them of something that happened when he was in kindergarten.

“There was this one girl my class, and every single day she would come to school wearing this necklace – it was really important to her – given to her by her great grandma,” Williams said. “One day, when I was in third or fourth grade, I walked into the lunchroom and she’s still wearing the exact same necklace.”

He went on to explain that she would remove the necklace at lunch. One day, when the bell rang, she emptied her tray into the trash and later realized she had accidentally thrown the necklace away. This girl cared about the necklace so much, he continued, that she began to pick through the trash one piece at a time.

“I saw her from across the way,” said Williams, “and I decided to walk over and help her. When I got about five feet from her, I stopped. I think, ‘Wait a minute, if I help her all my other friends are going to laugh at me for picking through the trash, and also make fun of me for doing an act of kindness.’ So, I had a choice. I ended up walking away.

“Was that really brave?” he asked the students.

“No,” came a resounding reply.

Williams told the class that sometimes, being kind is easy and others, one has to be brave. He then gave students three steps for regularly committing acts of kindness—start small, be brave, and be kind.

In closing, Williams told the students to declare – starting in a whisper and progressing to an enthusiastic shout – what they were about to do. When the exercise ended, all of the students gathered in the cafeteria shouted, “Change the world!”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.