Crisis = Kindness

There’s a popular story first started by John F. Kennedy, that The word “Crisis” in Chinese is composed of two characters meaning “danger” and “opportunity”. Chinese linguists tend to dispute this as popular wishful thinking, but as I learned from my time in television news, You never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.  With that in mind and a blatant disregard for the facts, I’d like to start spreading the story that the word “Crisis” is in fact comprised of three symbols in Chinese, “danger”, “opportunity”, and “Kindness”.

“Kindness” you say, how does that make sense? “Danger” and “opportunity” make sense if you think about it, but if you pull that old thinking cap a little lower over your ears, you’ll realize “kindness” is a natural consequence of “Crisis”. In the past couple of weeks, The Northeast got pounded pretty good by Hurricane Sandy. Now I know bigger hurricanes have made landfall, but a combination of full moon, high tide, and the fact that New York City took a direct hit and was cut in half without power and under water in places made this a pretty bad storm by almost anyone’s standards.

Cousin this was a crisis! There was danger, and there was opportunity, but you know what? There was also an amazing amount of kindness that bonded people together. Amidst the gas shortages and and lack of electricity, there were folks who ran extension cords and multi strips out of their houses so people could charge phones and other battery powered devices. Tenants in affected apartment buildings who didn’t know their neighbors opened their doors and shared candles, food, even blankets and bedding to stay warm and get some rest. It was urban camping where the hardened inhabitants of the Big Apple helped each other. I even saw a story where a family who had all their utilities simply opened their doors and invited anyone inside for a warm meal, something to drink and use of the bathrooms. Why did they do it? Because they felt so fortunate to have what they needed, that they felt compelled to share it with others who weren’t so lucky.  They were paying it forward and  I guarantee their unselfishness will inspire people all over to do the same, which is the miracle of kindness, that it lives on and inspires in perpetuity. So when a disaster strikes New York or another urban center again, Someone will remember this and repeat the act. Awesome huh?

Perhaps it was this that inspired a young boy and his mother to take action down in Texas, Thanksgiving day when a crisis struck. Nay you heard of the horrific chain reaction accident down in Texas on Thanksgiving Day. It was very foggy with visibility of less than a foot. When the fog lifted, there were over 180 cars involved and the interstates were shut down for hours while injured were transported and accidents cleared. Keep in mind we’re talking about this kind of tie up on the busiest travel period of the year.

Crisis, but a young boy and his mother saw opportunity for kindness and they proceeded to make sandwiches from their turkey and trimmings and pass them out to fellow hungry stranded travelers. Amazing right? You doubt my total lack of regard for the facts now? Because I see my good story makes more sense than these facty things you sometimes speak of.

I know when I hear stories like this, I feel good about our future. In spite of the bad things that happened during these crises, there were people who stepped up and made kindness toward their fellow humans the first priority.

So the next time you you hear about “Crisis” being two characters in Chinese, “Danger” & “Opportunity”, step forward and in your strongest most confident voice, wrongly announce that its actually three symbols and “Kindness” is the third one. If you say it with enough confidence, people will assume it must be true, especially when you give a few prime examples, and all of us hearing about it in a speech will get a good chuckle about it later.

Be kind to each other – Sean