Suzie Schwartz, President of Military Spouse Programs
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
~Mark Twain
This month is the Month of the Military Child, when one of my favorite organizations, Operation Homefront, announces its Military Children of the Year. I love this organization, and the event to honor outstanding military children from each service is always a wonderful reminder of the strength and resilience of our children. They do great things, even as young people.
This is also the month that we announce our 2017 Armed Forces Insurance Base Spouses of the Year. Congratulations to all of you! You all make me proud and I am excited to follow your accomplishments and watch you grow as you make new friends and figure out ways to expand your spheres of influence. All of you deserve your new title and all of you can do good things for our military community. Thank you for what you have done and for what you will do in the future.
These two events lead me to the title of this column: Be Kind to Each Other. It is not hard to be kind, but you must choose kindness each and every day. You must choose to be positive each and every day. It is YOUR choice. Nothing that is happening in the world and in your immediate environment makes you do anything. YOU decide how you will interact with others. These choices occur all day long. They happen in online communities, while engaged in social media and in our personal interactions with family, friends and people in our communities.
I know I have spoken about this topic before, and, frankly, I will continue to speak out on this issue as long as I have the ability to speak. This is important to me. I continue to see people post things on social media that are, honestly, just not nice! Please think before you post anything. If you are unsure, if you think your post will hurt someone, if you think your post might not be viewed in a good light, then here is a novel thought: Don’t post it.
I am passionate about many topics, but I try hard to not share my opinion about every single one. I also do not expect people to agree with me on every single topic, and I choose to be kind and respect others’ opinions. If we are concerned about things in our community or even in our country, we can make a difference each and every day by doing our very best to show our children and each other that kindness creates more kindness. Good things can be accomplished when you start by just being good to each other.
All we should and must do in this community and in this great country is be kind to each other, to support each other. We can show our installation communities and our larger local communities that we are proud and kind American citizens. We will support each other and find ways to better our communities. We will be good citizens and set the example for all military spouses to follow. We will be shining examples to our military children that kindness and respectfulness can change the world.
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