Random acts of kindness

Thanks to the witnesses

On Monday, April 30, I was driving north on St. Mary's Road and noticed a couple of girls at the pedestrian crosswalk at Lennon Avenue. I stopped and checked in my rear-view mirror. I noticed a motorcycle a short distance back. I watched him and noticed he was not slowing down. I could not proceed through the crosswalk so watched as my car was hit. I rolled down my window and asked if he was OK and was able to move the bike. He said he could and I said we should go on the side street. I turned right and noticed he went left. I turned around and went to Brownstone where he had gone. When I got there, I saw two wonderful men in their cars. I got out and found out Darren had left to try and find the man on the motorcycle. Tim gave me his business card and said he'd seen the accident. Darren came back and said he could not find him but was in the process of reporting it to the police. A big thank you to both Darren and Tim for their help. There are people in Winnipeg who really care.

-- Sandra Brabant

Lessons learned: students share

their RAKs It all started back in September when we got the idea of doing RAKs. RAKs mean Random Acts of Kindness. At Luxton School, every class is doing a giving project. We are a grade 4/5 class and we try to be kind. To help us learn about kindness, we came up with the idea of recording RAKs. Whenever we see a classmate do kind things or hear that a classmate has been kind, we write it down under their name in our own RAK book. Here are some examples:

You asked me what was wrong.

You let me play with you when I was sad.

You helped me sharpen my pencil.

You grabbed my sketchbook for me.

You cheered me up.

You gave me a piece of orange when I didn't have a snack.

You let me borrow six pencils.

You picked up my mitt when I dropped it.

You gave me your sweater when I got wet outside in the snow.

When I was upset, you gave me a hug.

You wiped my helmet (after skating).

At homework club, you picked up my homework when I dropped it.

You helped me carry my patrol things.

You brought me my backpack to my house when I was sick.

You helped me up when I fell on concrete.

You held the door for me.

You taught us about Manitoba Fun Facts -- Ms. B!

You gave another student your Word Work book to let her see a sentence.

We learned that Thursday is the hardest day for kids to be kind at Luxton. Why? Maybe it's because kids are tired after waking up early four days in a row. Maybe it's because teachers are tired too by the time Thursday comes around. Maybe it's because kids are excited for the weekend. We came up with the idea to record RAKs at recess to help remind all students to be kind. That's why we talked about RAKs at our assembly. Then, Ms. Auty discovered the "Random Acts of Kindness" page in the weekend edition of the Winnipeg Free Press, so we started reading the articles on Monday mornings. We wanted to share this with you so that you may be inspired to "embrace kindness." RAKs spread kindness. We learned that making people happy is the right thing to do. One student said, "I now notice RAKs in my community; it's something I will do for the rest of my life."

-- The Students of Room 27, Luxton School

Those nurses

were like angels

to hospital

roommate

I recently got out of Health Sciences Centre after a 2 1/2-day stay for a broken ankle injury. While recovering in GD219, I was initially feeling sorry for myself and very miserable; made worse by all the noise coming from a machine beside the patient next to me. It didn't take long for me to figure out that the machine that was keeping me awake was keeping someone alive! Over the next day and a half I observed the nursing attendants tirelessly rush to this man's bed every 10 minutes or so to roll him on his side or move him to a more comfortable position. They always rushed in with a smile and verbal encouragement to the patient, who I had not heard utter a sound, other than gurgling coming from his mouth.

You see, this person who the nurses always called Danny, had broken his neck riding his bicycle. Enjoying his retirement, he was staying active with his wife riding bicycles. While on a routine bike adventure at Birds Hill, he fell off his bike and broke his neck and was paralysed from the head down. In the 30 days he had been in HSC, he required constant attention every 10 minutes or so. His darling wife was there every day with words of encouragement and she showed unbelievable patience and support for her loving partner. Every day, Danny is making progress. He's now able to move his lips to sound out words and wiggle his fingers a bit -- all progress made only possible with the support of the dedicated nurses that work GD219.

-- Gordon Picken

Thanks to the

kind gentleman

Two Sundays ago, I was driving on Grant Avenue near Lilac Street when my vehicle was hit hard on the driver's side by a truck. As I sat in shock while waiting for the paramedics, a very thoughtful and kind gentleman from a nearby residence offered to call my daughter on his cellphone. This was a great comfort and I would like to thank him sincerely.

With sincere gratitude.

-- Olive Hamilton

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 19, 2012 G7