On two different Saturdays, Golden Rule Project had a booth at Avenues Street Fair on September 7, and at the 9th & 9th Street Festival on September 14. We are grateful to the organizers of these two festivals for creating spaces where communities could gather and share a moment together, under the summer sun, before the fall weather envelops us.
Throughout the year, we have been asking people to finish the following sentence: “I live the Golden Rule by …”
What’s the Golden Rule? We usually tell people “treat others as you want to be treated.” Some people have changed the words a bit to “Treat others as THEY want to be treated.” We have heard that version called the Platinum Rule. But however we say it, the Golden Rule / Platinum Rule is about treating others with more kindness, compassion, and empathy. And we could all use more of that.
At our booths, we promoted kindness by asking people to be part of our Kindness Chain, we had a coloring station going strong with more than 60 different cards colored throughout both events, and our interactive Salt Circles kept everyone entertained.
Over the course of the two events, people committed to doing 197 acts of kindness. We collected 16 stories that will become part of a bigger collection that we will share at the end of the year. And we had multiple conversations about ways that people are living the Golden Rule.
We want to thank the volunteers who helped at both events. Thanks for giving some of your weekend to GRP to help spread compassion, peace and civility in our communities. And thanks to all those who participated in the Kindness Chain and those who shared stories. We grow so much from listening to each other.
We want to be part of more events! If you have an idea of where our booth could go in 2020, please let us know.
Last, remember that if we want to see more of the Golden Rule around us, we need to start with ourselves - remembering and practicing it with self and others.
It may not be easy but it is doable. The Golden Rule is love made visible through daily actions of kindness and compassion.
See you around!
-Susan & Felipe
To see all the photos go to our facebook album here.