{"id":146534,"date":"2021-05-03T06:30:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T10:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/?p=146534"},"modified":"2021-04-15T10:35:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:35:36","slug":"kindness-and-acceptance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/kindness-and-acceptance\/","title":{"rendered":"Kindness And Acceptance"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kindness and Acceptance<\/p>\n

By: Carey and Trevor McLaughlin<\/p>\n

\u2018Pay it forward\u2019 is the concept of one person performing a small act of kindness towards another without publicizing or broadcasting it and without an expectation of reciprocity, followed by that person helping someone else and onward until the acts of kindness have a compounding effect on our world.\u00a0 The idea is that the acts of kindness eventually return to the original person and complete the circle of kindness. It is heartwarming to observe people paying it forward and doing small, kind things in the world to make someone else\u2019s day a little better (paying for the coffee for the person behind you in line, putting a coin in an expired meter). All of these little things positively contribute to our world that so desperately needs more kindness right now.\u00a0 I love these small gestures because as Aesop so famously said: \u201cNo act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kindness and acceptance<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>however,<\/em> are much different from kindness by itself. True acceptance is rooted in empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand or to try to understand someone else\u2019s situation, experience, feelings, and behaviors. If you want to be truly generous toward another person, more than just the \u2018pay it forward\u2019 type of generosity, you need to understand their successes and struggles\u2014the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult parts, or at least admit that you can\u2019t fully understand them because you haven\u2019t experienced life in their shoes.\u00a0 It means that you acknowledge that the experience of another is hard.<\/p>\n

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Does kindness always have to translate into an action such as volunteering or donating money in order to impact the world? \u00a0No, it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 To make a difference in our challenging world, it would make a huge impact if people simply acknowledged the difficulties that others face, therefore impacting their thoughts, words and actions which also makes the world a better place.\u00a0 Or, in the spirit of GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, to celebrate your best of all<\/em> (a daily challenge to do a little better than you did the day before.)\u00a0 As Ghandi stated: \u201cIf we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.\u00a0 As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At GiGi\u2019s, kindness and acceptance is twofold:\u00a0 we work hard to spread the global message of acceptance while also accepting the struggles of those with Down syndrome and offering programs to help them be the best they can be.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>People with Down syndrome face many challenges in their everyday lives.\u00a0 They work harder at things that come easily to the typically developing child and adult. At GiGi\u2019s, the acceptance of these struggles is the backbone of our organization and the reason behind our many impactful programs. We are fortunate to have amazing volunteers, donors, families, and participants to make GiGi\u2019s the amazing place that it is. \u00a0<\/strong>As it states on the GiGi\u2019s Playhouse main website: \u201cIn the last 15 years, GiGi\u2019s Playhouse has made significant progress and impact in supporting individuals with Down syndrome, but we have only scratched the surface\u2026There is still so much more to do. Without more actions to create lasting acceptance, opportunities for present and future generations will falter. Our kids never get to take a break from their diagnosis. Therefore, we will not stop fighting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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My sincere hope is that you<\/em> don\u2019t stop fighting either; fighting for kindness and<\/em> acceptance for those with Down syndrome and other different abilities and anyone experiencing discrimination; fighting to do your<\/u> best of all<\/em>, as GiGi\u2019s Playhouse encourages.\u00a0 Small changes in attitude towards others make a huge difference and impact our world in amazing ways.\u00a0 So\u2026pay it forward, empathize, volunteer, be kind to yourself, and everyday do your<\/u> best of all<\/em> to make this world a kind and accepting place because: \u201cThere is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.\u201d \u2015 Ernest Hemingway<\/h3>\n

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Kindness and Acceptance By: Carey and Trevor McLaughlin \u2018Pay it forward\u2019 is the concept of one person performing a small act of kindness towards another without publicizing or broadcasting it and without an expectation of reciprocity, followed by that person helping someone else and onward until the acts of kindness have a compounding effect on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rochester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}