Little Ripples Make Big Waves
Longfellow Wave Club
Never underestimate the impact that one small act of kindness can have on another person, on the world, or yourself for that matter. It could literally save someone’s life. Small acts of kindness have saved me and my family over the past six months, and I don’t think the people who have helped us the most have any idea that their seemingly small gestures have been lifelines pulling us out of the depths of despair.
Kindness was so important to Maisa. I have found so many notes and pieces of art in her room which stress the importance of being kind. During the holidays, she preferred to make rather than buy gifts for her loved ones - true gestures from the heart. My last handmade gift from her is a crocheted pouch for keeping healing stones and crystals. I will need that for the rest of my life! She told me more than once that she preferred to watch people open the gifts she had made for them rather than open a gift herself. She loved the feeling of giving to others and never liked being the center of attention.
One of her favorite activities in elementary school was the Longfellow Wave Club. The Wave Club teaches, “It only takes one act of kindness to make ripples. Little ripples make big waves!” Maisa lived her life by this. She loved Wave Club projects like making blankets for the Ronald McDonald House, organizing donations for foster children, and going to the local Veterans home to spend time with Veterans. We sent our first Maisa Space Donor Advised Fund donation to the Longfellow Wave Club to help support more waves of kindness in our community.
Maisa’s altruistic ways and sensitivity to injustice were apparent throughout her short life. She cut and donated her hair at least three times over the fourteen years she was alive. After she died, we found a lot of (most of?) her allowance stuffed in the top corner of her closet. (The cash we found will be donated to the Maisa Space Donor Advised Fund.) Maisa refused to spend money on herself unless she absolutely needed something. I was thrilled last spring when she agreed to let me buy her a $25 magnetic speed cube. She carried the cube around all summer long and could solve it in under a minute.
Her acute sense of justice, while admirable, was also the source of much pain. Maisa did not understand why humans treat each other, animals and the earth so poorly. She would pick up trash in the neighborhood but rightfully point out that litter is a human created problem, so we shouldn’t congratulate ourselves for only partially cleaning up our own mess. She thought that animals, including small ones, should be treated with respect, and when she saw friends on the playground smashing ants for fun she had a hard time convincing them that this was wrong. There were many tears shed at home and discussions surrounding the value of every life. Maisa looked at humans and saw corrupt and dishonest politicians, and people willing to kill other people over power, money, race, religion, symbols, and land. Do the things that make us different really outweigh the things that make us the same? Is it worth it to dehumanize and kill each other over these differences?
On behalf of Maisa and her love of service, her desire for more justice and kindness in the world, and in order to try to create the kind of earth that Maisa envisioned, I ask, what small act of kindness that you can do today? Tomorrow? The day after that?
Is there a little ripple that could make a big wave in your community? The world feels heavy and polarized. A lot of it is that way, but not all of it. The extremes are loud, and unfortunately, that is much of what our kids are seeing and hearing. However, I will also tell you that many of these small acts of kindness that I refer to at the start of this post are coming from young people. Maisa’s friends have been incredibly kind and thoughtful and have intuitively known how to navigate an incredibly difficult situation.
We all have intuition, but most of us disconnect from it early in life when we start to accept messages from others around us and from society about how and who we should be. It is never too late to find your way back. It is always a good choice to be kind. Even if you don’t know exactly what to do, it is the intention behind the act that matters. Sometimes kindness looks like just being present, truly listening, and really trying to understand a different perspective. If you lead with your heart, you can’t really get it wrong.
