In Kindness We Find Our Strength
The Kindness Pandemic
Once the initial shock and gravity that is COVID-19 dulled, many of us wondered what we could do. The persistent pull into an anxiety ridden landscape was all too easy. Small pockets of hope and comfort were clung to: food, calming conversations, Netflix; slow walks in nature where things were still growing and changing, a reminder that life was indeed not at a complete standstill. Yet the most poignant of reassurances has been kind gestures, unasked for or prompted. A relief to know, as bad as things may get, the greater good triumphs.
Dismayed after hearing of an unpleasant incident at a local supermarket during the Corona panic buying, Dr Catherine Barrett started a Kindness Pandemic Facebook page.
It quickly skyrocketed and now has some 500,000 followers sharing everyday acts of kindness. Notes of support for health care workers, posties and supermarket workers sprung up like resilient wildflowers toughing it out on the roadside. Toilet paper was shared, food was made and left on doorsteps and people often forgotten were brought to the fore. The ‘Intersectional Kindness’ that Dr Barrett aspired to ducked and weaved around hardship and pushed through.
Catherine said that she knew it would have an impact on peoples wellbeing, because in a way, it did on hers. She knew that people were feeling the same way she was.
“I was looking at social media and it was quite depressing and anxiety provoking so I thought, we will create a space where people can share kindness and I’ll enjoy that and other people have been as well.”
“One of the key mechanisms that draw people in, is that sense of being connected. It’s not just socially connected but being connected to a higher purpose or giving people something that they can do so that they feel that they are making a difference.”
“In the context of a virus, people can feel helpless, so people in our group are doing practical things to transform the lives of others.”
Dr Barrett has long had the gumption to make cultural change. She has a huge passion for intergenerational care and relationships after many years of working in residential aged care.
“I just thought, older people are so amazing and have stayed working with older people all through my professional career.”
Dr Barrett went on to complete a pHD and is the founder of Celebrate Ageing, a social enterprise challenging ageism and building respect for older people.
“The thing about academia for me, I thought I was doing incredibly important research but it wasn’t translating to cultural change and that’s why I set up Celebrate Ageing because I wanted to create real change. I wanted to be able to do research work and make sure that the research work was grounded in real lives and translated to cultural change.”
The Kindness Pandemic aligns with her earlier endeavours- to bridge the gap and make valued connections that span age and culture. If anyone watched Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds last year on the ABC, it was clear to see how profound these intergenerational connections are, for both young and older, and in-between.
COVID-19 has forced us to slow down and survey our lives and what they mean. When we can no longer take our health and our lifestyles for granted, we tend to have greater capacity to peer outside our own bubble and check-in with those close by, but who have often remained, seen from afar.
“I think because people are missing that physical contact, and I am thinking of older and younger people, having a hug and those kind of things that grandparents and grandchildren often do,” said Catherine.
“They are having to be creative about writing to each other, kids are drawing pictures or doing all those kind of things they might not have done if they were catching up so much.”
Playgroup aged kids and primary kids have been asked to join the Love Letters campaign, writing notes, letters or poems to older people who might be in need of a pick-me-up right now.
“It’s about thinking what matters and I think one of the things that really matters and would make the world a better place is intergenerational connections.”
“We know that from the research that people who have the best attitude towards older people will have more contact.”
“I think an intergenerational connection is good for everybody- it’s good for children, it’s good for older people, it’s good for the parent’s in-between and society.”
As we look forward, things will change and many of us will resume our normal routines, but with any luck, some things stick.
“We hope that people understand how important these relationships are and foster them,” said Catherine.
“I want to make kindness stick.”
The mourning period and uncertainty before us will stretch out long and hollowed beneath, yet if this time has taught us anything, it is that there is good, there is compassion and where sorrows lie, kindness and softness becomes our strength.
Article by Sinead Halliday
