Kindness Boomerang

In January 2007, I boarded a plane to head off on a family vacation. During a stopover I checked my voice messages and received the tragic news that a young girl in my community, Stella Laniado (A’H), passed away. I was devastated, to say the least, and immediately drew my attention to my 7th grade students back home. You see, they had lost a classmate of theirs, Reina Varon (A’H), only 3 years prior and right before winter vacation they began opening up about the pain they felt. Just before winter vacation I was finally able to get through to them and ease some of their anxieties and so I wondered how would I be able to explain how yet again something so tragic occurred.

Questions began bombarding my mind: “How do you stay afloat in a world that at times seems to be pulling you downward? How do you make sense of the chaos?” In a fog of panic, wondering how I could comfort my young students amidst the community’s hardship, I boarded the plane and the stewardess sat me in a seat I wasn’t supposed to be in, but then again – everything happens for a reason! As I sat dazed and disheartened, I looked to my left and right there before my eyes was the answer.

My eyes fixated on those three small words, I smiled and felt an instant comfort. A life vest stays afloat regardless of how much you push down upon it. The message hit me to my core. How do you stay afloat? You’re life vest is inside! Through the kindness you bestow upon others and through the kindness others bestow upon you we can keep each other afloat through the stormy seas of life. We can’t stop or prevent life’s tragedies or curve balls from coming our way, but we can most certainly extend a lifeline to someone in need. And hence, Life Vest Inside was born.

and at that very moment I made a conscious commitment to spread that message to the world. I would never have imagined back then that those three small words would in fact become something I live by.