December 14th,2012 was the day I didn't get a lot of work done. I put my TV on at 11:00am while I ate lunch and I saw on the bottom crawler on CNN that 20 people (at the time) where shot to death at an elementary school in Newtown, CT and the number included children. My heart sank and I had a dull ache in my stomach. I just shook my head trying to process how someone could do this. I watched the coverage all day until I went to bed about 11:00pm. While watching the news the visual that kept coming to my mind was a balloon being released into the sky. Maybe for me that was the children's spirits being lifted up to heaven. Once the final number of victims were released 26 balloons kept coming to my mind. While I watched the memorial service a few days after the incident I sketched out the below image that was on my mind:
At the time I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this sketch. I decided to turn it into an 8x10 artwork printable. Click on the image below or click here to download a pdf file that you can print out.
After a tragedy the goodness of people really comes out and I started hearing about 26 Acts of Kindness that Ann Curry from NBC News was sharing on her twitter account. Here is what the 26 Acts of Kindness is all about (taken directly from their facebook page): "Newtown's heartbreak has a lot of us asking, "What can I do?" Thinking about this, Ann Curry took to social media and asked people to imagine what would happen if all of us committed to 26 acts of kindness to honor each life lost in Newtown." I was very moved by this and thought instead of the New Years resolutions we make (and typically never keep) at the being of the year we could switch to doing 26 Acts of Kindness throughout the year. This would be great to do individually, as a couple or as a family and get your kids involved. I made a worksheet you can use to write down the 26 Acts of Kindness you would like to do for the year. Click the image below for a 2 page worksheet to download and print out or click here.
I put mine up on the refrigerator as a remembrance to Sandy Hook School and a reminder to fill out my list this month and accomplish my 26 Acts throughout 2013.
If you would like to participate in the 26 Acts of Kindness and are looking for some ideas to add to your list here are some resources: 26 Acts of Kindness Ann Curry's twitter account #26Acts NBC News The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation their Facebook Page Please leave a comment below if you are participating in the 26 Acts of Kindness and what type of ideas you are coming up with to add to your list.
