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Art and compassion
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Children of the American International School turn out to be crusaders of kindness. Will society follow, they ask, through their mural
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PHOTO R: SHIVAJI RAO
MILES OF KINDNESS Children at work on the mural
When little children at the American International School Chennai (AISC) got involved in the Kindness Mural Project, little did they realise that they were communicating strong thoughts that many people, including adults, seem to take for granted these days.
Isn’t it true that in the mad race for the biggest slice of the pie, values such as kindness, compassion and respect, are taking a back seat in society today? Until a few generations ago, ‘kindness’ was part of everyday courtesy. Unfortunately, modern life with its affluence, violence, hasty and hostile living environment has made society a place to dread, instead of a place to live.
Taking a cue from what the Dalai Lama wrote, “My Religion is Kindness,” children are now turning out to be the crusaders for kindness in the world. Students from Chennai’s American International School have contributed to what is called the Kindness Mural Project that originally kicked off from a small school in California, whose motto has been simply to “Be Kind.” Their goal has not been to be the best school in the world, but to extend the vision of kindness beyond their own campus to help students and others see the potential kindness that exists everywhere. To envision a world where “Be Kind” will be the motto for all.
Eight-year-old Daya Mccutcheon, a third-grader at the AISC says that, for him, kindness is about making the other person feel good. And what does he get by doing this? “I feel great too.” Another eight-year-old, Akarsh Verma, shares the same view. He says, “ It feels good when you are kind to someone, because then you make the other person happy.” To them, giving their heart and time to another person is to ‘be kind’. “Rightly so, isn’t it”, quips their art teacher Diana Shatish.
The AISC responded to an invitation from Phillips Brooks School, CA to be part of The Kindness Mural and its children literally ran amuck with ideas on what they perceived as ‘kindness’ on canvas. Eleven-year-old Nina Nevill painted a world with a smiley face on it, as, to her, the mural was for the world. Peace, happiness, and kindness would be good for the world now, she says. Simple, yet profound! The Kindness Mural Project is part of the Art Miles Mural Project created a few years ago to teach children understanding and respect. As fourth-grader Dominic Frost from the U.K. emphatically states, “Kindness is respecting people, not being mean to them. It’s all to do with respect.” And so he drew a picture of a person helping another to finish his work. Dominic is excited about the Kindness Murals that will be painted by students of various schools throughout the world. The murals will travel to Egypt and will be displayed at the Art Miles “Exhibition of the Century” in 2010 in support of UNESCO’s Decade for the Culture of Peace for Children of the World.
“Wow! What a brilliant way to end the decade,” says sixth-grader Sanchit Kumar “So what’s so tough about being kind,” he asks as he vividly describes his drawing. “I painted a leprosy patient in need of help. And there are many people around him, trying to help him, one calling the ambulance, the other getting water and so on and so forth.” His point is, “Only when people come together and help one another, will society improve. When society improves, the nation grows. When nations grow, people are happy, they enjoy life and make the world a wonderful place to live in.”
Art teacher Diana rounds off the talk about their recent kindness project by saying that the Kindness Mural, put together by these little seeds will make a big impact in Egypt in 2010 as it will be a 12-mile long painting and hopefully will enter the Guinness Book as the longest painting in the world!
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