Words Do Matter

Trump’s tossing out of real and made up words without thinking of the consequences is a most dangerous trait for someone with power. His verbal spillage is more a sign of mental illness than of a mature, thoughtful leader. Our Global Kindness Revolution’s co-director, Afghani-American Atta Arghandiwal, used to listen to the speeches of President John F. Kennedy when he was a boy in Afghanistan. Learning English from Peace Corps volunteers, his soul was imprinted by Kennedy’s words, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

These words motivated Atta to devote his life to humanitarian work on behalf of refugees and immigrants. He escaped as a refugee himself when the Russians invaded Afghanistan over three decades ago, finally landing in America where he had a successful career in banking. His upcoming work, GLOBAL RESOURCE GUIDE FOR IMMIGRANT FAMILY SUCCESS brings a roadmap for negotiating foreign systems and customs from the first thought refugees and immigrants have of leaving their home to eventual integration into their host country. There’s no other book like this and it will surely have a most positive impact for current and future refugees and immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity as wars and climate change force more mass migration. With our “Kindness at Noon, Everywhere, Everyday for Refugees and Immigrants” effort (see www.Trustonekindness.com for info), we hope the energy of altruism and kindness will overtake and neutralize the hatred encouraged by Trump’s words that encourage our MEAN MINDS and discourages our KIND MINDS.

French-Canadian visionary, Luc Goulet, offers a blueprint for the future with his BigBang Project and his soon-to-be published LEVERAGE YOUR MIND: A BETTER ME IS A BETTER WE. His analysis of the positive economic impact of shopping locally and volunteering is incredible.

This country, despite its noble calling, has always been resistant to refugees to say nothing about its treatment of slaves and people of color. My grandparents came from Ireland, Italy and Russia, and all experienced discrimination and threats including the burning of a cross on their southern lawn, which permanently traumatized my father and his younger sister, who witnessed it.

Recent studies indicate the size and activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain dealing with emotions, is related to altruism—those with smaller amygdala and little altruistic brain activity have little altruism, like psychopaths like Trump. Those with high altruism tend to have larger and more active amygdalas, one assumes like Atta and Luc. Another study shows that psychopathic children also show evidence of brain involvement in their pathology, and though previously considered untreatable, are found to be trainable in altruism. By positively rewarding them, they learn to act altruistically even though it doesn’t originate from the amygdalas. So “Kindness at Noon” and our efforts like “Kindness Behind Bars Training Program” show promise, if enough of us commit to truly leveraging our mental power every day at noon. The easiest revolution ever!

Can we stand strong and not succumb to the Trump lies and fear-mongering that ISIS thrives upon, using Trump’s words in recruiting terrorists, putting not just our nation but all nations at risk in the distorted name of a religion, making sure that our kind minded voices are heard over the angry hoards celebrating their ignorance and violence globally, embarrassing kind, thinking Americans. Edmund Burke wrote that “All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men (and women) to do nothing.”

No matter where you are, go to www.indivisibleguide.com to find an indivisible or other community group working on issues important to you and to a flourishing democracy. Or write a letter to the editor. Start a blog. Join demonstrations when you can. Speak out! Call your legislators! Volunteer! Shout out! Sing out! Be mindful of your words-keep them positive and kind…words are energy and as they fly through the air you never know where they will land. Will they be used as recruitment by ISIS or to inspire a young boy or girl in a third world country to become an active humanitarian?

Judith Trustone, GLOBAL KINDNESS REVOLUTION: HOW TOGETHER WE CAN HEAL VIOLENCE, RACISM AND MEANNESS.