I did a story yesterday on this pastor's no-complaint campaign, and then today came across this story about the Minneapolis Hug Brigade (which as far as I can tell has no connection to Mata "Amma" Amritanandamayi other than hugging strangers).
Here's a thing from the first:
This past summer the Rev. Will Bowen challenged his Christ Church Unity congregation to go 21 days straight without complaining....
To help everyone remember, he gave each one a purple elastic wristband.
The rules were simple: If you complain, you have to switch the band to the other wrist and start over.
...[B]racelet wearers say they've become slower to speak or that they become angry less quickly. Bowen said he believes it is possible to have a complaint-free congregation that will have an impact.
"When I was a kid we had a lake house, and I liked to sit out and throw a rock, and the ripples from that rock would travel almost the entire cove, he said. "As one life becomes more positive, it can't help but affect all the lives around it."
And here's a thing from the second:
"I was sitting around thinking, 'How can I make a difference?'" says Carrie Rupp, a 22-year-old pool-maintenance worker from Minneapolis and "instigator" of the Hug Brigade. "I wanted it to be simple, because everybody tries to make it super-complex and super-difficult to change something. And I thought, 'I really like giving hugs, and I'm really good at it, so why not just go stand out there and spread some love?' All you have to do is plant that seed and it just grows and grows and grows."
...For her part, Rupp says the inspiration for Minneapolis's hugathon (www.myspace.com/hug_brigade) was purely organic: "There's six billion of us on this planet, and what is the common thing going through everyone's brain? 'I'm isolated. I feel alone. I don't know who to turn to.' It's terrible that there's so many of us so alone," says Rupp. "And in my mind, the only thing that makes sense is if we just open up and start speaking to each other like brothers and sisters, as one human race. I just think if you put it in someone's face—love, a peace sign, a hug—it can only be good."
It struck me that there are probably lots of other butterflies trying to create typhoons through similar small scale actions.
Know of any? Think these things work, or that they eventually just run out of steam? Every done any yourself? |
