1. The ‘Why wait ‘til Christmas?’ Kindness Project
House Assembly
13 November 2017
Miss Wood

2. What do I do when I don’t know what to do for House Assembly?

3. says…
On this day….
Lady Jane Grey, famous for being Queen of England for 9 days, was accused of high treason in and later beheaded age just 16

4. says…
On this day….
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the USA wrote a letter including the famous quote “Nothing in this world is certain but death & taxes”

5. says…
On this day…
in 1865 showman PT Barnum opened the New American museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which became famous for its strange inhabitants including….

6. General Tom Thumb
a man who was just 25″ tall

7. A Fijian Mermaid

8. Josephine Boisdechene
a lady famous for her beard which had grown to an impressive 2 inches by the tender age of 8

9. The famous Siamese twins Chang and Eng …
who squabbled bitterly with each other and also with Mr Barnum

10. But was this good enough for assembly?
Was there a message to be found here?
On I went, to discover whether this day/week was significant for any other reason
an awareness raising campaign perhaps?
Anti-Bullying Week
World Kindness Day (marked in many countries around the world, started up in 1998)

11. Prejudice
At the moment, I doing some writing about prejudice and I’ve spent a long time thinking about it
One theory of prejudice says that it stems from fear, fear that the world is a dangerous and threatening place
And ultimately the fear that we are not good enough to be loved unconditionally.

12. Prejudice cont’d
This makes us angry and makes us treat others as though it is they who are not worthy. 
For some people the world is a dangerous and threatening place
and for others they are in fact the people who are making life dangerous.

13. Enter my favourite TED talk ever
_how_christmas_lights_helped_guerrillas_put_do wn_their_gunshttps:// miguel_sokoloff_how_christmas_lights_helped_gu errillas_put_down_their_guns

15. Demobilisation peaked around Xmas time

16. Before you were a guerilla you were my child, please come home

17. Jose Miguel Sokoloff he talked to our human nature
he welcomes the bullies back by reminding them they are loved by their families and friends
he has his colleagues gave them an opportunity to ‘come home’.

18. Why wait ‘til Christmas?
if Christmas is so powerful, why wait, why not try and bring a little bit of Christmas to every day.
Back to World Kindness day
A while ago I read about a therapy called self-compassion therapy, which is basically about being kinder to yourself
Unkind and angry people, may not have not received much kindness themselves.
We all feel lonely and like we are on the outside from time to time
maybe we need to remember how to welcome ourselves back in like Sokoloff did for the guerillas.

19. ‘Why wait til Christmas?’
So like Jose Miguel Sokoloff I decided to make a small Christmas tree for Latter.
The tree is replete with the necessary magical lights
But this tree has something to say
Every heart has a different QR code that you can scan with your phone and it will take you to a little piece of kindness to see you through til tomorrow
Something like an advent calendar
I hope the little tree will keep us going until the 15 December….