My husband, Hanoch, and I wrote a book, Acts of Kindness: How to Create a Kindness Revolution , which has generated much interest across America. This story was shared with us by an anonymous caller during a radio talk show in Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cHi, Mommy, what are you doing?\u201d asked Susie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m making a casserole for Mrs. Smith next door,\u201d said her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d asked Susie, who was only six years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mrs. Smith is very sad; she lost her daughter and she has a broken heart. We need to take care of her for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy, Mommy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see, Susie, when someone is very, very sad, they have trouble doing the little things like making dinner or other chores. Because we\u2019re part of a community and Mrs. Smith is our neighbor, we need to do some things to help her. Mrs. Smith won\u2019t ever be able to talk with her daughter or hug her or do all those wonderful things that mommies and daughters do together. You are a very smart girl, Susie; maybe you\u2019ll think of some way to help take care of Mrs. Smith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susie thought seriously about this challenge and how she could do her part in caring for Mrs. Smith. A few minutes later, Susie knocked on her door. After a few moments Mrs. Smith answered the knock with a \u201cHi, Susie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susie noticed that Mrs. Smith didn\u2019t have that familiar musical quality about her voice when she greeted someone.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Smith also looked as though she might have been crying because her eyes were watery and swollen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I do for you, Susie?\u201d asked Mrs. Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mommy says that you lost your daughter and you\u2019re very, very sad with a broken heart.\u201d Susie held her hand out shyly. In it was a Band-Aid. \u201cThis is for your broken heart.\u201d Mrs. Smith gasped, choking back her tears. She knelt down and hugged Susie. Through her tears she said, \u201cThank you, darling girl, this will help a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Smith accepted Susie\u2019s act of kindness and took it one step further. She purchased a small key ring with a plexiglass picture frame \u2013 the ones designed to carry keys and proudly display a family portrait at the same time. Mrs. Smith placed Susie\u2019s Band-Aid in the frame to remind herself to heal a little every time she sees it. She wisely knows that healing takes time and support. It has become her symbol for healing, while not forgetting the joy and love she experienced with her daughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My husband, Hanoch, and I wrote a book, Acts of Kindness: How to Create a Kindness Revolution , which has generated much interest across America. This story was shared with us by an anonymous caller during a radio talk show in Chicago. \u201cHi, Mommy, what are you doing?\u201d asked Susie. \u201cI\u2019m making a casserole for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[183],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}