Listen Here
Thoughts with Profs/Find the Kind Mashup
Column by Amy Rogan, Assistant Professor of Media and Communication & Adviser to The Pulse
rogan@findlay.edu
Last year we started a new series at the Pulse called “Find the Kind.” While the Pulse is a news outlet built to report the important stories that affect your daily lives, the staff also wants to report on the things that bring joy.
“Find the Kind” features stories from the University of Findlay Campus Community that show kindness, compassion, and empathy.
This year, at the kick-off meeting for the UF campus on Monday, Aug. 10, Dr. Chris Denecker, vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Sarah Fedirka, senior lead for mission and identity and director of the Watterson Center for Ethical Leadership, announced the theme for the year at UF is courage.
I think kindness and courage are two things that go together like peanut butter and chocolate. They complement each other.
How often have you seen someone in need but failed to find the courage to step outside of your comfort zone and help them? How often have you summoned the courage to choose kindness?
Kindness isn’t just about showing kindness; it’s about being kind when no one is looking. Or being kind when the easiest choice is to ignore or be indifferent.
Courage isn’t just about adopting an air of bravado; it’s also about being courageous when no one is looking. Sometimes the most courageous things to do are the smallest things, like taking a step when you are so tired you just don’t think you can move another muscle.
Being kind when it costs you something is also a courageous act. I remember several years ago, money was tight, but I saw a young mother at the checkout at the local grocery store who looked like she could use a little boost, so I paid for her diapers. It was so long ago, I barely remember it, but I remember feeling kind of weird. It didn’t feel comfortable. I certainly didn’t want to pat myself on the back as I walked out of the store. I just prayed that I had been placed in a situation to help when someone needed it.
As you head off into a new school year, kindness doesn’t have to be a huge, grand gesture, but it’s the small ones that will build a kind campus. Hold the door. Offer to tutor someone in class. Pick up a piece of trash when no one is looking. Give grace to the classmate who asks too many questions. Give grace to the professor who asks too many questions.
I am an Oiler graduate, and I just celebrated my 12-year anniversary. Here’s what I know about the people who work here. They care, they are kind, and as we start a very new chapter at the University of Findlay, they are courageous.
My thanks to Dr. Denecker and Dr. Fedirka for reminding me that life is not always easy, but courage will see us through change, and kindness will make the difference in how we weather the change.
My challenge to you: share the kind stories you see on campus. Send them to me at rogan@findlay.edu, and we will work to show the world a kind community while also staying true to our courageous commitment to ethical journalism.
