Our CEO and founder Sonia McTaggart-Anderson recently attended a Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida Board meeting the other day, and she thought something was so awesome that she wanted to share it. She was in the audience when twin middle school brothers, Jasian and Jakeson, gave an eye-opening presentation.
It was titled “Jasian & Jakeson’s 10 Ways to Be a Better Person.”
- Look at yourself in the mirror every morning before you go out the door and give yourself at least one compliment that you actually believe. Even “Your sweater looks nice today!” will work.
- Make an effort to be especially polite and kind to people throughout the day.
- If you don’t understand something, ask. Don’t let the conversation move forward without you being on board because you’re too embarrassed to admit that you didn’t understand the first time around. Remember there is nothing wrong with asking nicely to repeat something.
- Allow the little acts of rudeness that people enact on you throughout the day to serve mostly as a reminder not to do them yourself.
- Offer to help someone so they don’t feel like they have to burden you by asking.
- Always be clean and respectful when using public places instead of making a mess for both the custodian and the person who follows you to clean up.
- Donate to the homeless around you once in a while. Offer to buy them a meal, or give your spare change, or bring them a cup of coffee when it’s cold.
- Tell people when you like them, and remember that being rejected is not the end of the world. Also, be kind when you reject people.
- Make more of an effort to talk to and learn from your elders.
- Go out of your way to do something nice at least once a day, in a way that may never prove beneficial to you in the long run. Even if you just let someone go ahead of you in line when they are pressed for time, it’s worth the tiny bit of effort it takes to do.
Wow.
How many adults do you know who live by these rules, or even try to?
How many adults do you know who live by even one of these rules?
Do you follow any of these rules?
Although adults often think kids are the ones who should learn from them and their experiences and mistakes, maybe they should take a step back.
Honestly, we could really learn a lot from kids.