In response to Richard Lopez’s column on cyberbullying (November WFP):

I answered the phone at the law office where I work. It was an elderly woman calling from Brooklyn, who had been the attorney’s neighbor 50 years ago. She recounted to me, “I had a son with cerebral palsy. When all the kids came home from school, they would get a snack, change into play clothes, and run out to play in the park. But one boy, Tommy, came to my house to get my son in his wheelchair and brought him out to ‘play’ with the other kids.”  Tom is now 61, but his neighbor Pat will never forget his kindness to her son.

When I worked at Boylston Elementary School, I saw two eight-year-old boys, one of whom was autistic, sitting in the hallway. I asked why they were there. Sam replied, “Well, Joe (the autistic boy) accidentally brought a granola bar that has peanuts in it. A girl in our class is allergic to them, so Joe had to go out to the hallway to eat his snack. I asked if I could go with him so he wouldn’t have to eat alone.”  I will never forget Sam’s kindness.

The soccer game was lopsided, with our team winning 9 -1. The coach gathered the boys in a huddle and told them, “None of you are allowed to score again, except for the three boys who have never scored a goal.”  For the next 45 minutes, the strong players set up their teammates to achieve success. I laughed when they precisely positioned a boy in front of the net so they could calculate the angle they should kick the ball off him so he could “score.”

Acts of kindness do not happen randomly. Kids need adults to not only tell them, but to show them. Or, better yet, do it with them. An example was a father watching a football game with his sons when he heard that SNAP benefits would be cancelled. Dad and the boys took the cash in his wallet, bought healthy food, and set up a spontaneous food pantry on their front lawn.

Just as cyberbullying can cause permanent damage, acts of kindness can last a lifetime.

– Lori Altobelli, Holden