Waves of Kindness
By Mitchel Resnick (inspired by Olesia Vlasii)
Last week, I received a heart-wrenching email message from a Ukrainian educator named Olesia Vlasii. Since then, I have interacted with Olesia several times through email and Zoom. I have been deeply inspired by Olesia’s words and thoughts about the power of kindness, and I want to do whatever I can to amplify her voice and ideas. It is people like Olesia who give me hope for the future.
Here is an excerpt from Olesia’s original email message:
I’m Olesia Vlasii, a Ukrainian teacher, a mother, and a children’s poet…
I have been excited by your activity since 2007 when I first saw the Scratch Cat. From that time, I have taught my students to create kind projects on Scratch. During the last few years, we spent many events to show how we can bring something good to the world using Scratch…
Now, it is a very hard time for my native country. Russia not only has begun a war, but it has also attacked civil people. It is ugly! It is unbelievable that it could be in the XXI century. Many civil people died, also kids…
Each of our people does something for others in different ways. I’m constantly praying for all and believe that a big kindness can help us.
Dear, you have created the largest peaceful environment for kids (and not only kids!) around the world. That is why I decided to write you and ask for help. I believe, your bright powerful brain and big kind heart find a way to create the largest wave of kindness to help to stop the big evil. I’m ready to help with anything. Please help save Ukrainian kids.
In the message, Olesia refers to the Scratch programming language and online community, which enables children to create and share interactive stories, games, and animations. I love how Olesia has supported her students in creating “kind projects,” to “bring something good to the world.” And I resonate with her belief that we need “to create the largest wave of kindness to help stop the big evil.”
The need to create “the largest wave of kindness” might feel overwhelming. But reading Olesia’s message reminded me of Robert Kennedy’s “ripple of hope” speech in apartheid-ruled South Africa in 1966:
It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice. He sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance.
How can we realize Olesia’s vision of “the largest wave of kindness”? Following Kennedy’s words, we can start small, sending forth tiny ripples of kindness. As Olesia wrote to me in a follow-up email: “We have many opportunities each day to say or to do something kind… When we pass it, we lost chances to make the world around us a bit better.” Of course, each tiny ripple of kindness will have only a small, local impact. But taken together, over time, they can create a wave of kindness, a culture of kindness, that can change the ways people think about the world and interact with one another.
In another follow-up email message, Olesia wrote:
There are many types of waves. Some of them we can see — in water, in air, some of the ones we can hear — sounds, some others we cannot see but we can see their results (magnetic), some of them help us to connect with others — wi-fi, etc… We think that we can generate a new type of wave — a wave of kindness.
There are so many people on the planet who need help. What can each of us do? We can each create our own wave of kindness and send it to those people. How can we send it? Maybe, we can help you with that. Create such a wave in your mind and realize it on Scratch — you can make a beautiful animation, a kind message, or simply draw a peaceful picture.
Too often, social media and online communities are used to spread hate and misinformation. But people can also use them to support, encourage, and empathize with one another — to send out ripples of kindness. Our team that develops and supports Scratch has always focused not only on helping children learn to code but on cultivating a creative, caring, collaborative community.
Over the years, I have been inspired by the ways that children have used Scratch to spread ripples of kindness. At the start of the pandemic, a Scratcher with username helloyowuzzup shared a project called Acts of COVID Kindness. In it, she suggested ways that members of the Scratch community could make gifts for “someone who you think could use some cheering up.” Hundreds of young people responded and created gifts for others. In her project notes, helloyowuzzup explained that the pandemic had sparked “a need to spread kindness.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, young people around the world have shared thousands of Scratch projects expressing support for the Ukrainian people and hopes for peace. One Scratcher started a studio called Stop the War! Peace for Ukraine! Young people have contributed hundreds of projects to the studio, many with animations of the Ukrainian flag and sound clips from Ukrainian songs. The projects have names like Ukraine deserves peace, We wish for peace forever, I stand with Ukraine, and #pray4ukraine. The comments section for the studio includes many messages in support of the Ukrainian people, messages of appreciation from young people in Ukraine, messages of concern from young people in neighboring countries, and some discussion among young people with different points of view.
There are some cynical comments, such as “yeah of course putin will see this and stop the war.” But that misses the point. It’s true that comments on the Scratch website won’t stop the war. But they can send forth tiny ripples of kindness, providing hope when it is most needed — and collectively grow into a wave of kindness that helps create a culture of kindness.
I feel a personal connection to the crisis in Ukraine. My grandparents fled Ukraine 100 years ago, in 1920, to escape Russian pogroms against Jews. It is so depressing that the aggression and violence in Ukraine continues 100 years later. We need to address the current crisis in Ukraine, but we also need to work on long-term systemic changes to ensure that the same cycle of violence and aggression does not repeat 100 years from now. A culture of kindness is the foundation for that change.
My own personal perspectives on kindness, caring, and empathy were forged, in part, by my experiences at a summer camp called Camp Boiberik, where I spent five summers as a camper and counselor, between 1970 and 1975. The camp had been founded in 1923 as a summer getaway and cultural connection point for children of recent Jewish immigrants, mostly from Eastern Europe.
Camp Boiberik ended each summer with a special festival called Felker Yom-Tov, which translates (from the Yiddish language spoken by many Jewish immigrants) to Holiday of the Peoples. For the festival, each bunk of children learned folk songs and dances based on those of a different culture of people from around the world. The goal was for children to gain an appreciation, understanding, and empathy for different people and different cultures.
At the end of the Felker Yom-Tov celebration, after the individual bunks performed the songs and dances of the cultures that they represented, the whole camp would rise and sing a final song with the refrain (in Yiddish) Mir zaynen di felker, Mir zaynen di velt, which translates to We are the peoples, We are the world. Although the campers were children and grandchildren of immigrants who had fled persecution, the message was not to reject the rest of the world but rather to embrace it with kindness and empathy, by understanding, supporting, and connecting with others around the world.
Camp Boiberik closed in 1979. But for me, it continues to serve as a model of how young people can become engaged in a culture of kindness. My long-time friend and collaborator Natalie Rusk has suggested, only half-jokingly, that my work on Scratch and other international initiatives is my way of sharing the spirit of Felker Yom-Tov with others.
There are no simple solutions for reversing the rise of authoritarianism, hatred, and aggression around the world. Many different types of actions are needed. But in my exchanges with Olesia over the past week, we agreed that any long-term strategy must include at least two core elements: It must actively engage the next generation of young people, and it must foster the growth of a culture of kindness. From our experiences, we have seen that many young people around the world are ready, able, and eager to send out ripples of kindness. The challenge is clear: We must find more ways to support more young people in developing as curious, caring, creative human beings, so that they can create the waves of kindness that are needed to bring about lasting change in the future.
Addendum: Here is a video of me discussing Waves of Kindness with Carla Rinaldi (head of Fondazione Reggio Children) at the 2022 LEGO Idea Conference.
