Welcome everyone and thank you for coming tonight. We are here to honor a not so ordinary woman for her dedication to making the world a kinder place. Sandra has become a good friend to Portia and me. Funny, I had always thought of myself as a kind person, but she has really opened my mind and heart and now I’m even more aware of the everyday things we can all do to improve the lives of others. What started as a simple mantra for her has turned into a worldwide movement. Her imagination and creativity are like nothing I’ve seen before. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. And with that, I would like to introduce you to my new kind friend, Sandra Lee Avery.
(Applause)
(Laughter) Thank you so much, Ellen. Wow. I'm so glad you finally responded to my barrage of emails and snail mail. I always knew we would become good friends. I’m thankful for that.
Hi Everyone. I’ve got to admit, I’m a little overwhelmed by all of this, extremely thankful and feeling so blessed, but overwhelmed. I’m often asked how all this being kinder thing started. Ya know. I can’t remember the exact moment or the incident that sparked it. I remember being with my sister. Janet, I love you so much. I love the way our energy flows so quickly together. Anyway, before that, I had been writing BE KINDER on my wrist with a permanent marker for a couple of months. When she and I were together on a trip to see my son and granddaughter, the idea just sort of snowballed. I guess I just began to look at things and people in a different way...the way of being kinder. Then for Christmas, my son Christopher -- I love you too Bud -- took me with my eyes closed to a tattoo parlor where he had already paid for my BE KINDER tattoo. I love it! My parents, oh...Mom and Dad...I love you and thank you for how you raised us to be respectful and caring about other people. You really are the origins of my campaign. We have always been taught to be kind to each other, animals, nature, and to be appreciative of what we have. I guess you could say I became a little obsessed with getting people to be kinder. My granddaughter Ava, Hi Honey, wears shoes that say BE KINDER and her dad and my son Tayo is doing wonderful things every day to make his space kinder. I love you both very much.
There is not a situation in the world that couldn't be made better by being kinder. We see starving and neglected children. We need to be kinder and feed and care for them. We see animals being abused and destroyed in our oceans and forests. We need to be kinder and protect them. We see friends and strangers treating people horribly both physically and verbally. We need to be kinder and step in to diffuse the situations and get both sides help. We see manufacturers, companies and individual people destroying our natural resources and nature. We need to all work together to find ways to be kinder to our earth. We see homeless people on the street and walk right past them. We need to be kinder and acknowledge that they exist. We need to be kinder and figure out a system where every American can have a safe place to sleep at night. We see young people completely out of control, whether because they have no parental supervision or whether they have simply gotten involved with the wrong people. We need to be kinder and mentor those children and guide them by example and education.
Needless to say, the list goes on and on. There are the basic everyday ways we can be kinder. I promise all of you, if you really look around you, at any given time of the day, you will find some way in which being kinder will make your space better.
I know all of you are wondering what I'm going to do with the $500,000 dollars. Man, that is a lot of money. (laughter) First of all, I'm going to be kinder to my family and take us all on a trip to an island somewhere where we can just hang out and enjoy each other in the sun. (more laughter). I don't have any definite plans, but am sure I will buy more wristbands, T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. I would like to put billboards up all over the place. I'd like to pay for people who want to get BE KINDER tattoos. Maybe I will try to develop a program for schools, maybe call it BE KINDER 101. (laughter) Maybe I'll write a book about ways to be kinder and ask you all to send me the ways being kinder has affected your lives. Honestly, there are so many things that can be done. I still can't believe that I finally have the means to do those things.
I want to thank my family for their love and support and for indulging me in my sometimes-crazy ideas. I honestly feel so blessed every day to be a part of a family that truly do love and care about each other. And to my friends, new and old, my life is better for having all of you in it.
Well, that's about it. I just want to say, in closing, that I am humbled by this award and so thankful for it. I look at it not so much as Me being honored, but rather Being Kinder being honored and if I can be the instrument through which that works then I am blessed. Thank you again, so much and remember -- BE KINDER.
