Kindness 101

I don't watch much television anymore. When I did, I always enjoyed watching "On the Road" — first with Charles Kuralt, then later with Steve Hartman. They would travel across the country, meeting people and telling their stories.

Correspondent Steve Hartman is still at it, after all these years. I went down a rabbit hole the other day  and searched to see if "On the Road" was still a thing. It is. And I'm happy to report that it's as good as ever. Take this story, for example. "Sometimes it takes a child to unite a village." I dare you to watch it (it's only three minutes) and not cry tears of joy.

And Steve Hartman has gotten his own children involved! In 2020 during the pandemic, he started a segment called Kindness 101. It's a popular CBS News series hosted by Steve alongside his children Meryl and Emmett. In the segments, they explore character traits like empathy, resilience, and gratitude using stories from Steve's "On the Road" archives. As with the original "On the Road," the videos are available on YouTube. Check out this one, called "Dominoing," about the sparking of a chain reaction of good deeds:

And if that's not enough, Kindness 101 has developed into a free K-12 school curriculum in partnership with Drake University and an organization at the university called Character Counts. This video briefly describes the program and shows Steve traveling to a school in Minnesota that is implementing the Kindness 101 curriculum. (This one's another tear-jerker.)

“This has been a dream of mine for a very long time,” said Hartman. “The people I’ve met ‘On the Road’ have given me so many important life lessons. I’m beyond grateful to now have this opportunity to share those lessons with school children across the country.”

I think you'll agree that including Kindness 101 curriculum in our schools can only lead to positive outcomes. As one of the children says, "It just makes me want to be a better person." And you can't get any better than that.

If you have a story you'd like to share here in the Fernandina Observer — about a neighbor or friend or stranger or business that showed kindness, or about kindness and compassion in general — please contact Peggie Weeks at pegweeks@gmail.com