Pink Shirt Day
Helloooo! I'm back from my unintentional blogging hiatus (thanks flu...not! lol) and I'm really excited for today's post because it's all about a subject I'm incredibly passionate about....kindness.
When London Drugs first reached out to me to help spread the word about #PinkShirtDay I was thrilled to participate. I'm a big believer in kindness because I absolutely believe in the saying "Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a battle you know nothing about". Plus the fact that there's an entire day devoted to not only kindness but also my favorite color, well, that also sealed the deal for me pretty quickly! haha
So - what's the deal behind #PinkShirtDay? Pink Shirt Day was started in 2007 by two Grade 12 students in Nova Scotia who, after learning of a Grade 9 student who was bullied for wearing pink, banded together and with a group, all wore pink in support of that student. Since then, the cause has grown and now February 24th is national #PinkShirtDay.
Another reason I love this cause is because bullying affects us all in one way or another - whether personally or by affecting someone we love. I think in one way or another most of us are likely bullied at some point and to some capacity in our lives. I know I was on the receiving end of bullying in Jr High but thankfully, the extent wasn't too bad and thanks to my solid support system I was able to pull through relatively unscathed. That isn't the story for many people though.
I can't even imagine being a child or teen in this day where EVERYONE has cellphones and your every move can be captured and recored by technology. Cyber bullying and online bullying is a really scary and very real problem and is one that quite honestly, makes me nervous when I think about raising my own children one day. Every day in schools bullying occurs every 7 minutes on the playground and every 25 minutes in the classroom. Teaching our kids to be kinder starts with us and we need to lead by example.
So today with London Drugs I'm asking everyone to take an extra minute, think before you speak and be kinder. Let's teach our friends, our family and our children to be kinder and to lead by example. It's easy to talk the talk, but let's start walking the walk. On February 24th you can bet I'll be wearing my Pink Shirt and I encourage you to do the same. The shirts are less than $10 at London Drugs (so basically, skip your Starbucks for two days in a row and the cost is covered) and proceeds from sales in Edmonton will go to Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton.
In addition to proudly wearing your official #PinkShirtDay shirt, post your support on social media using #PinkShirtDay and #PinkShirtDayYEG and in case you're wondering how you could go out of your way to be kinder, I've created a list with 20 simple, easy, inexpensive and TOTALLY do-able random acts of kindness. I'm going to challenge myself to do them all leading up to #PinkShirtDay, maybe there's a few items on that list you'd like to challenge yourself to do too. Thanks everyone for reading today and I'll end the post with the way Ellen ends her show and say "be kind to one another". XO
