Do TRUE Acts Of Kindness Really Exist Or Are They Just A Facade? If a man robs someone's house, but then claims to have found the person's wallet and gives it back, is that really an act of kindness? If a person burns down another person's house and then lets that person stay temporarily at their house only to be able to control them, is that really an act of kindness?
So I have to do homework for social services while I am on welfare. The homework is so interesting that I want to upload my answers here on my blog as well. I put the questions in bold and I also included the links of films I was asked to watch. I have to do these assignments weekly so I will upload them weekly.
Human Extended Version Vol 1 Summary
Watch part one of this documentary called Human: It is very famous and filmed around the world. It is about the human experience and how people are different but also the same around the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdb4XGVTHkE. Human Extended Version Vol. 1: What did you like, what did you learn, what surprised you, what emotions were you feeling while you watched.
Different people describe what love is to them. Black man’s father used “spare the rod spoil the child” on his son. The son learns that love should hurt and ends up in prison; I feel anger because systemic racism has taught black people to beat their children and has been passed down from slavery. Black children are forced to be seen and not heard.
I feel really sad about the Japanese man who was irradiated by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. I am sad because he was in love and couldn’t be with the woman he loved. Since they couldn’t be together in this life, they decided to kill themselves with sleeping pills. It didn’t work and they both lived. They finally were given permission to get married after seven and a half years. Their happy ending made me really happy to hear.
Women talk about their experiences with being discriminated against and about being divorced. I feel like women have it very hard. Congratulations to the woman who got divorced and decided to change her life for her.
The guy who was talking about polygamy pissed me off. He was talking about it’s a good thing polygamy isn’t for women because it would complicate things and he is an extremely jealous person.
It’s hard to see women who have abortions and then go to prison for that when we have people who are doing so much worse, including Trump, and getting away with it. Then you have the United States that is becoming like these other countries. If a little girl gets pregnant by her dad or gets raped by a grown man, she cannot have an abortion. If she does, she too will go to prison in some states today. This saddens me every time I hear it, especially as a person who has had a child born out of rape.
Other women in this film talk about getting abused by men. One woman even killed her husband because he was beating her. People describe what it’s like working in a sweat shop and then other people describe what it’s like living in poverty. We as Americans, think that we live in poverty, but people overseas in some countries have it so much worse than we do. One person said he watched his siblings die because there was no food and no medical care.
As an African American woman, I have learned about all of this a lot. Learning about different cultures is something that I do. I teach Microaggression Training. The reality is that people of color in general, and dark-skinned people live in poverty, experience Microaggressions, and experience racism whether systematically or personally more than any other shades of people. In America, people of color may live in poverty, but watching a sibling die due to hunger and lack of medical care definitely tops the poverty scale. It makes me sad and feel helpless. I am on Section 8 and can barely help myself let alone someone else.
Answer this: What acts of kindness have you seen around the world happening? What acts of kindness have you experienced, heard of, or seen on the news here in Pacific Northwest during this scary time? Answer this: What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for you? Answer this: What is the kindest thing you have ever done for someone else? Answer this: Write a reflection on your current coping skills and stress level: Including- what are you feeling nervous or stressed or anxious about, and how are you currently coping with it.
These questions bother me a lot and I will answer them, but only in my way. First, let me ask you a question. If a man goes into someone else’s house and murders everyone but leaves a small boy alive. Then every day, the man goes back to the house and leaves a huge box full of food so the boy will not starve. Is this an act of kindness? When I look at acts of kindness and I look at the link that you sent me, all I feel is anger. On the link you sent me, there is not a single black person listed on there. When Ukraine started getting bombed, everyone jumped at the chance to help them, but no one cares about the damage that America and the United Kingdom have done and continue to do to the people of Haiti. You want me to think about acts of kindness, but all I feel is anger because acts of kindness are usually when people do things to help the fairer skin population. The United States consistently drills into black people and people of color that they don’t matter, that they are nothing, that they are thugs and gangsters and criminals, that we are not human.
Do you know that the Dred Scott Decision never got overturned? China, when the pandemic was happening, forced out and killed a lot of Africans who were in their country. Africa, showed them kindness by not doing the same thing to them….the Chinese people in their country. Black people were brought over here to North America and were stripped of their culture, heritage, hair styles (people’s heads were shaved to make them all one tribe…..hairstyles were different to show their tribe). Today, African Americans still make less money than their white counterparts. Black people are still discriminated against and excluded from “White History” that is mandated in public schools and college courses….see it’s called American History. No one cares about all of the inventions that Black people have done in this country, but people are constantly making sure that everyone knows about the white ones. WSU and other colleges stole land from Native Americans thru the Morrill Act and how other land before that was stolen due to the Homestead Act, but no one talks about the act of kindness that both Native Americans and Black/African American people have given to white people every day by not killing them, even though white people constantly use Microaggressions and Implicit Biases against them especially in the public school district system [Reference Number 3 Below].
You want me to sit up here and talk about acts of kindness but if I kill all of your children and leave you alive, is that an act of kindness? If I cut off your food supply and restrict jobs against you because of the color of your skin and then place you on public assistance only to not allow you to ever be able to get off if it, is that an act of kindness? You probably don’t care what I am talking about, but I don’t care. I am going to answer this honestly. You probably could care less about how both School Districts, located here in the Pacific Northwest, tried to destroy my child and her confidence by teachers, staff, and students dragging her down the hall, touching her without permission, locking her in classrooms, making her sit in a loogie when she was in Kindergarten, and on top of all of that trying to justify why it happened. You probably couldn’t care less that in 19 states, I have never had trouble gaining employment until I came here to the Pacific Northwest and I have never been on Section 8 until this place and now I am on welfare and Section 8 and can’t find employment higher than a service worker. See Native Americans and Black/African American people show white people kindness every day in this country even though no one ever talks about it. When people come up and start touching my daughter’s hair without permission, she shows them acts of kindness by not kicking their butts. When I go into a public school and only see black people in service positions like a cafeteria worker or a playground staff or a janitor, I show white people an act of kindness by not burning down the school. The fact is that the United States is built on racism. The world operates on racism. The darker you are, the more you are hated. White people expect us to NOT learn from them. “Kill them with kindness”, people say. Proof is everywhere, but people choose to ignore it. They make excuse for why the systemic racism is happening or they use Microinvalidations to dismiss what is happening. I choose to ignore acts of kindness from white or fair skinned people to other white or fair skinned people. Everything I just typed is why. White people don’t care about me, so why should I care about them. They prove to me every day that they are never going to change. Why do I always have to be the one to turn the other cheek and to show them and their offspring acts of kindness?
My daughter is 13 now and I am so worried every day if she will be okay because of how white people tried to destroy her. It’s hard and it hurts that because she is black, white people in the Pacific Northwest hate her. It saddens me that I can’t do more for her because I am limited by what I can do. Being on Section 8 means that I have a roof over my head, but it also means that I am forever in prison until I can change my circumstances or until I can get out of the Pacific Northwest. I am angry and since I have been here in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), I have become very bitter. I wasn’t like this when I got here. I am tired of dealing with white people and I show them acts of kindness every day when I just walk away from situations because they get to do whatever they want and get away with it.
Look around at the world, white people get away with rape and murder all the time. There are so many stories of how black people die by the gun of police and white people have guns at the Insurrection on the State Capital and they didn’t die. Around the world whenever I pay attention, all I see is pain. Every time I see how white people choose them over fairness it angers me. The whole Ukraine situation really bothered me because while I was in college, I had to do extensive research on Haiti and I saw the whole story in black and white. I saw how Ukraine was valued more than the people of Haiti. I saw how black lives don’t matter. I saw how white and fair skinned live are worth gold and how black live mean nothing. Then I looked at myself and my daughter and how we are treated here in the Pacific Northwest and I realized that white people will never change no matter how many peaceful protests we do or laws we try and change. Everyone around the world held protests when George Floyd was killed only to go back and do the same thing once the pandemic was over. Everyone went back to the same old same old and forgot about the injustice of George Floyd. Everyone went back to not caring. This is what it means to be a Native American or Black/African American.
Answer this: What act of kindness do you WISH someone would do for you this week?
Why do I have to answer this? Okay, if I was to dream, I would want to fall in love. I want someone to love me despite my skin color. I don’t want to feel like every man wants every race and if they can’t get any other race then they go to black women. Malcolm X once said, “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman” in a Speech to Women in 1964 [Reference Number 1 and 2 Below]. We are still going through some of the same stuff that we were going through in 1964. It’s just that now it’s more widely accepted and documented. Who teaches us to hate ourselves? [Reference Number 3 Below]. Why did Lynching just become a Federal Hate Crime in the United States as of 2022 instead if back in 1964? Why did it take so long? So, out of all of this I say that, I want to be in love. I want my daughter to grow up with a father. I want to have a complete family. My daughter was born out of rape so I want a man who will not rape me and who will love me for me.
I guess another act of kindness that I would want is for someone to take me to the store and for me to be able to get all of the hygiene supplies that I want and need and that person would. I can’t afford hygiene supplies right now and it’s hard not being able to afford laundry soap or deodorant or toilet paper.
Pick 2 new ways to cope from this list of options: https://www.verywellmind.com/forty-healthy-coping-skills-4586742
My coping skills based off of this list is mostly Healthy Emotion-Focused Coping Skills. I listen to music, I focus on my hobbies, I go for walks (sometimes), I watch TV, and I play Roblox or other video games. I wish I could practice Healthy Problem-Focused Coping Skills, like walking away and leaving a situation that is causing you stress. I would leave the Pacific Northwest. I do also do a lot of unhealthy coping skills like sleeping to much and avoidance. I am not sure how to pick 2 new ways to cope than what I have already been doing. I have tried the other coping skills a lot and they do not work. I have had Circumstantial Depression for a while. I have had many threrapists so I have tried a variety of coping skills. I have even published a book about this.
Please watch this TedTalk where she discusses the different kind of skills we need to teach our children-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_1Zv_ECy0g. Watch this video to learn more about the gig economy: https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_romboletti_the_gig_economy.
2/3 of children today will work in jobs that do not exist. QI skills are the compliment to IQ skills. QI skills can be developed during the first 5 years of life. There are seven QI skills: Me, We, Why, Will, Wiggle, Wobble, and What If. Every role is a gig. Disruption is speeding up exponentially, is going to continue, and is inevitable regardless of industry. The change in disruption is coming from all over the world. Show up and act like a gigger. Disrupt yourself in order to move from employee to gigger. Giggers constantly build and curate their network. Giggers always say they can do something and then figure out how. Giggers are highly adaptable. Giggers curate their own curriculum. Giggers have a self-built safety net. In order to think and act like a gigger, you need to watch for trends and what’s changing in industries. You also need to cultivate/curate a very broad community especially in emerging sectors/industries. Find the thought leaders. Who do you need to know? Who needs to know you? Go to events and conferences in those industries outside of your community and outside of your comfort zone. Curate a forward-facing curriculum. Learn what you need to learn in order to be relevant. Make sure you are learning things that keep your mind agile and open for change. Have a safety net (your 401-ME plan). Have your own retirement plan.
Send me 5 thoughts that are on your mind after learning about these things! OR you can answer these questions. Do you agree, disagree, are you excited about this shift, does it worry you? How can you help your children succeed?
So I am starting a nonprofit and this information was so helpful. I never even thought about starting a 401-K for myself. I do know that I am already a gigger by trade but originally not by choice. Making sure that I keep up on the latest trends and cultivating a really big network is important. Also going to conferences and networking with people outside of my community is also really important information as well. Out of all of the assignments that I was given, this one was the most useful and resourceful piece of information. I do find it interesting though that the first video is talking about installing being a gigger into babies 0-5 years old. Those creative and technical skills that are so important for our kids to learn. Being on Section 8 though, I am not allowed to create a 401-K for myself. They won’t let me, so making sure I think outside the box and figure out another plan is really important. When you are on welfare and section 8, it seems like the whole plan is to help you not become homeless, but there is no transition plan to help you get off of Section 8. I really loved this TED Talk. I wish there was one for people on Section 8.
References
1) Malcolm X- On Protecting Black Women, https://youtu.be/6EIEKe8fVmg
2) Malcolm X: ‘The Most Disrespected Person In America, Is The Black Woman’, Speech To Woman – 1964, https://speakola.com/political/malcolm-x-speech-to-black-women-1962
3) Malcolm X in Los Angeles May 5, 1962 Who taught you to hate yourself? full speech, https://youtu.be/kboP3AWCTkA
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