GENESIS OF ARK 360° PROJECT

Today we have a mother and daughter team coming to afternoon tea to discuss, plan, create and start to implement our middle school girls ARK 360° Program. Acts of Random Kindness, 360 of them to be exact, for our girls kindness campaign. This mother and I recognized, many years ago, all on our own, the signs of kindness, generosity of spirit and genuine fellowship with mankind in our girl. REAL mothers know their child better than anyone else. Think of one of the original mothers: Mother Mary, and how she knew Jesus, even before he was born. She knew who he was, she knew who his Father was, where he came from, and she even, slowly, grew to know his fate. I speak here of the original Madonna, as a historical reference point of fact so as not to offend any non-believers. But, my point being, that she had FAITH! She perhaps had, Original Faith. She was the first human who walked the earth who had Original Faith. Certainly not the Disciples, who I punning often refer to as "The Duh...ciples..." (the word, "Disciple" comes from the Latin for 'Student').

About two, maybe three years ago, this particular mother and I recognized the proverbial light in each other's child as well. These girls are Autumnal Babies. They are born at the autumn season of a year and poised to be on the cusp of a new year. As an October Baby myself, I know...how hard it can be to be in that unique position. I think, more so than birth order or sibling rivalry, our society should speak more of these children and later on, adults. There needs to be different methods of engaging these children. [more later] But, if you are stuck in the middle of three girls, three sisters, and you are also an 'Autumnal Baby'...well,  lordy, lordy, lordy. Blessed by your name girls 'cause you have your mommas for some street cred. Because yes, my girlfriend also has the same unique scenario.

Our girls, all on the own, constantly think about, pray about, discern and do something about, some very interesting problems in our culture. In our society. In our communities. And, they both have gone global in their quest. Last January, when we celebrated my belated Hawaii-Five-O birthday in Honolulu, our middle daughter, somehow managed to share her toiletry packages with Waikiki Beach's homeless population. For those who don't know the situation there, let me quickly update you: Starting in the late 1990s, it was much easier for some urban cities, in particular, like now-bankrupt Detroit, to purchase one-way tickets for their homeless populations and send them to Hawaii. It was less expensive than caring for them in their own shelters and the winter climate was and is, brutal on the homeless population. It's no joke to say, that even harmless homeless persons have a sell-by date and the cleanup of that aftermath is not only not attractive (never mind humane...), but it ain't...cheap. So, it was EASIER to ship the willing participants to Hawaii and there they have landed on the beaches of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu Bay. Even young people, disengaged with their world, maybe flunking out of college or disenchanted with the systems that are failing them,  perhaps, debt-ridden and drowning in college loan debt, realizing that there are no jobs that lead to careers for them at this moment, mounting in addictions, lack of love, latch key kids from privileged, not-so-privileged or downright, dirty family histories and backgrounds, checking out of society, just for a few years...eventually they can't afford to get back to wherever it was they came from. So, they become part of another system. And, that's where our daughter, S, comes into the picture. 

At first, my husband and I were embarrassed (okay, I don't speak for my husband and he NEVER speaks for me, so I'll leave him out of this) by her generosity. We didn't think it was kosher. We didn't think it would be received in the way it was meant. Since we were tourists, we weren't even sure it was legal or safe. We didn't feel COMFORTABLE. (and that's where I will put my husband; our comfort level was at best, uneasy...) But, guess what. A Miracle happened. The Homeless (now a Capital "H") not only took S's toiletry kits; they gratefully accepted them. Eventually, they looked forward to them. And, they looked forward to her. And, so, too, did S. It became part of her day. Her routine. I mean, here was this ten-year-old, actively recruiting for toiletry items from the hotel's maid service, elevator, hotel guests, lobby guests and front desk, each and every day. She planned her mealtimes and the food stuffs around her daily walk from the hotel to the beach; from the hotel to the local Catholic church, St. Augustine's By the Sea; or from the hotel to whatever public transport we were taking that day for the daily sightseeing trip. She enlisted HELP. She had a small army of ants, working for her on this project. She had the UCLA Girl's Swim Team, practicing there in Hawaii, on the beach, after their daybreak morning swim, for what reason, I have no idea, but they were adding to her stash. They recognized S at either the elevator (we are running late today....) or on the morning walk to the local ABC store for hubby's morning SPAM sandwich (on time today!!!). They started to call her by name. S was building community, on vacation, in Hawaii. My husband and I (and here I will speak for him, 'cause he's given me permission) realized, finally, once and for all, that S has this 'special, unique, one-of-a-kind, God-given, Fruit of the Spirit, GIFT...S builds community, everywhere...she built community in the Lower 48 (or Upper 48, however, one looks at it) and we took it for granted. We just didn't take it seriously, and there's where I know I failed both as a mother and as a human being. But, somewhere on the beaches of Waiikii, probably when the sun was setting around Duke's (world famous restaurant named after a world famous swimmer. Did I tell you I was an olympic-caliber swimmer?) and either our buzzer was going off alerting us that our table was ready or my husband was rescuing me from a 64 year-old barfly, I realized: this is who S really was meant to become. This is who she is. Why aren't you recognizing this? Why aren't you opening your heart up to this? Why can't you encourage her? Support her? Embrace her? Engage her? Why can't I?

And, it only encouraged her when she heard at Sunday Mass from the local Hawaiian Catholic priest that the parishioner who had feed the homeless faithfully for almost twenty years, had passed away (the Sunday before we landed in Honolulu) in death during our time there. S wondered: Who will feed the homeless now? And, why would a woman who was born and raised a Catholic, refuse to enter the worship space of a Catholic church or darken a church's doorstep for almost twenty-five years? She fed the homeless in the sanctuary for over twenty years of those twenty-five. There's a story there...a story we never got to hear or at least not the whole story. And, then again, there is always at least three truths, right: her truth, their truth and His Truth. Already our S is learning to wait, perhaps not patiently yet, but wait in expectant epiphany, for the REAL TRUTH.

And, so that's when I learned to surrender my 'self' and open my heart even further and look at the world a little differently. To get off, yet, again, my own high horse, my own petty agendas, my own ambitions, my own needs. My own silly wants. I looked at the world through the eyes of a child, my child, or at least His Child, entrusted to me for only a few, precious years of total care and support, It was not easy. And, it certainly wasn't comfortable. It's none of those things now. I'm no saint. I'm very much human. But, I'm alive and breathing and well,...here we are ARK 360° Project.

ARK 360° Project. So, today, we meet. The concept is fairly simple. It always is at the Genesis of a Great Idea, isn't it? S saw the movie with Noah and the building of his ark. The modern day movie, Evan Almighty. And, coming from a very ecumenical, religious platform, she knew the story well already. I wouldn't say it was a fav movie of hers. I would say that it just 'spoke to her, softly'. The movie features ARK--Acts of Random Kindness. It's one of the central themes. And, it spoke to S. Apparently, it spoke to a lot of people. So, S's idea is not new or even original...yet. Even some Harvard College boys who took the year off, or semester or the summer, or whatever and travel around in a mobile home and commit random acts of kindness. They took the concept and ran with it. And, it's well documented by both social media and snail media. S saw that and was promptly committed herself. 

So, today, we mothers and our unique, middle, autumnal daughters on the cusp of something greater than, even themselves, meet to develop and plan and eventually, implement, these great girly ideas of Random Acts of Kindness. S likes the idea of an ARC. Because an ARC is not a circle. It doesn't completely make sense does it? But, it's flexible. It bends. It's unusual. It's unexpected. It's fluid. Noah's ark, saved lives. It represents renewal. It was a simple, grand idea, gesture, turned into a very grand reality. When Noah was building the ark, people, other people, but even his family members, and his relatives, made fun of him. They belittled him. They tried to intimidate him. They marginalized him. They bullied him. They didn't understand him. But, then again, they didn't want to understand him. They didn't even try to open their hearts, their minds, their souls. S knows all this. She's prepared. She doesn't care. She knows she needs help. And, that's where her mutual, symbiotic friend, E, comes in. She can handle what's about to come in smaller doses, if she has a few like-minded individuals on her side, helping her, enlisting her help. A mutual partner in crime so to speak. Someone who gets her and gets what she's trying to accomplish here on earth. And, too, that's why she really likes the "degree" sign. Because it recognizes that random acts of kindness often come softly, in gradual...incremental...degrees. It's shades. It's not black or white. It's degrees of gray, and shades of gray and NOT THAT SHADE OF GRAY (if you know what I mean. Eeew!) It's not wild. It's sort of like the original man of humility and kindness and forgiveness, himself. One mightn't recognize ARK 360° until it's too late. And, that might be the beauty. The surprise. The everlasting, je ne sais quoi factor. It comes in degrees...or not at all. It takes us human beings a while to "GET IT"; I know it took her mother a while. If I had been hit over the head with her ideas and the full force of them, I know even I'd be running for cover...and in the opposite direction. Not S. Since the day she was born, she has been waiting patiently for me and others to catch up to her. She can wait. She has a big agenda. And, it's agenda that everyone of us can benefit. 

It's not in your face. 360° implies a full circle view, though, doesn't it? One can walk around it. 360° implies that it is a full circle thing. It's a bird's eye view or maybe, just maybe, a view from ABOVE; a view from heaven. From a distance. The world looks like their project? Maybe? Or, the world should look like their project? Maybe this is how it's supposed to be? Big Picture. Little Picture. It's all in the mathematical viewpoint. God, Yahweh, Father, Allah, Divine Universe. Divine Universe does order the universe perfect. Scientifically, it is a complete and perfect, 360°.  But, only according to S and E, see, ...by degrees. Small, human, random...steps...

For S & E, see, It's not big. It's not like the ALS Bucket Brigade. It probably won't go viral. In fact, if it 'Goes Viral' or 'Goes Viral' too soon, they will be done with it. They'll wash their hands of it. Because here's the REAL DEAL about our middle daughters: they don't commit Random Acts of Kindness like it's a campaign to get them noticed. NO. They aren't looking for Instagram or "Likes" on their FaceBook. This is not their siren call to Social Media for attention. Especially since they are the Muddles-in-the-Middle, right? Girlies looking for the attention that they aren't getting. These girls are doing it, primarily because it's who they are; but, also because it's just 

the RIGHT THING TO DO....

everyone should be doing this...everyday....routine...

like S. said, "After you brush your teeth, you do this...wash...rinse...repeat....everyday...daily....forever. 

And, you don't complain about it. And, you don't advertise it. You just...Do It!" If it's recognized...terrific...if not, then, that's God's sign to keep on doing it, because it is so necessary and needs to be done. Needs. Not wants. Let me just say this, Here & Now: Folks, she just came out this way on  Monday, September 15, 2003. I can't take any credit for this. I can only foster it. Nurture it. Guide it. Mentor it. Direct it. To making IT, her own. And, did I mention she was once, long ago, part of a twin....she lives her life large for two. Just me guessing...but, in any case, her father and I know we can't take credit for any of this....Kahil Gibran, the Philosopher, has repeatedly said: Our children are not our children. They travel the future something we parents can never really travel on. I'm paraphrasing here, of course. But, it's true. We can never really be part of their tomorrows. Their future is something we can never inhabit. But, we can give them the toolbox of life, to handle their roads of tomorrow and hopefully, if they remember us, fondly, in love, in joy, in gratitude..then, and only, then...have we done our job correctly...

S doesn't even know yet, what Margaret Mead had to say: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world...indeed it is the only thing that ever has." But, I know. And, now you do, too. We knew it all along. We just left it somewhere along our journey, along with our youthful innocence and childlike dreams. Somebody pounded us in and finished us off. And, then, comes along S. She is strong, feisty and fierce. She's competent, profound, human, honest, proficient, sure of herself and the certainty of her wisdom of the ages and she comes with companions bearing Fruit of the Spirit and GIFTS....and she has adults who have no intention of letting her down...ever.