Kindness is King

POST FALLS  — If Mullan Trail Elementary School fifth grader Tori Best could have a dream come true, it would be for the world to be rid of drugs and the harm they cause to users and their loved ones.

"If you are a friend, you can help get your friend into a program or treatment. This can make the world a better place," she said. "Drugs are a thief."

Tori and six other fifth graders representing Post Falls' seven elementary schools courageously took the stage Thursday morning to share their winning essays on how to improve the world around them and how acts of kindness have affected their lives. All of that positive energy was part of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations' 37th annual Martin Luther King Jr. fifth grade program.

Students and teachers gathered in the Post Falls High School auditorium as fifth graders — inspired by King's life and legacy — spoke of civil rights, forgiveness, friendship, empathy and many other traits and acts that can help motivate others to be more compassionate and understanding in their daily lives.

"We should always be nice to our enemies," Greensferry Elementary's Maya Nicholson said. "We should not hate them."

Katelynn Clark from Seltice Elementary implored fellow students to make a difference in their communities by spreading kindness and finding beauty in everyone.

"We are all in this world together," she said. "Just a smile alone can go a long way for another person."

Stu Cabe, founder of the Ovation Company, delivered the keynote speech about the importance of standing up to bullies and doing what's right through his story about big elephants standing up to little "punk" elephants that were killing white rhinos on a wildlife preserve.

He also shared an anecdote of a little girl he encountered who was bullied because of her name. The girl, Rosalie, was teased by other kids who called her "Rosalini Tortellini." The little girl was crying as she and two friends came up to Cabe after a presentation one day to share her story after he shared how people made fun of his name when he was a kid.

"I gave a whole speech. She didn't think about any of the speech I gave. All she could think about was, 'some kids made fun of your name, and some kids made fun of mine,'" Cabe said. "I think she came up to me that day because maybe in her brain she was thinking, 'Finally, my school brought that guy Stu in to talk to everybody to say, hey, when you make fun of my name, it hurts. You might think that it's funny, but I'm not having any fun.'"

He said maybe she was hoping others in the audience that day would realize how hurtful something like that can be.

"Hey, fifth graders, we celebrate Martin Luther King for a lot of things, but one of the big things we also celebrate is that he thought we should treat everybody with kindness and welcoming and joy and love," Cabe said. "And little Rosalie, she didn't do anything wrong, but somebody was using her name as a weapon to hurt her feelings." 

He asked how many students in the room have had their own names used to hurt their feelings, and about 60% of kids raised their hands.

"I think if Martin Luther King were alive today, amongst all the things that he would say, I bet he would say this: 'If you have to make your friends laugh at the expense of someone else, you're not funny,'" Cabe said. 

Since 1986, Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene school districts have partnered with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations to bring this program to fifth graders in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is Monday. More than 37,000 fifth graders have attended the program, and the first students who participated are now about 48 years old and could be parents or even grandparents.

This year's program is titled, "We are connected."

    Ovation Company founder Stu Cabe speaks during the 37th annual Martin Luther King Jr. fifth grade program Thursday at Post Falls High School.
  

    Students react to Stu Cabe's presentation Thursday morning during the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations' annual Martin Luther King Jr. fifth grade program at Post Falls High School.