Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman: Compassion

So today is our last class, which is sad. It is sad. And last week's class was about patriotism. Right, you were filling in for me while I was gone. You know what was interesting about that class? That was one of our most viewed classes ever, and I wasn't in it. You guys did it all without me. What's the message there, Emmett? The message is that we're better. That's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about the job. Yeah, you do have to admit that was pretty awesome. It was pretty awesome. I was really impressed with you guys. You did a great job. Thank you. Oh, today's class is about compassion. Compassion, yeah. Do you want to tell us what you think compassion means? Caring and helping others. And caring and helping. No, caring for others and helping, sort of. Sort of, yeah. I would say. Caring for others, maybe. You did mention that. I mentioned that. I would say caring for other people's feelings and doing what you can to help. That's how I'd put it. It's kind of like empathy. Remember we did a class about empathy? It's a lot like empathy, but this is a call to action. Usually people who are compassionate, they don't just care about how somebody else is feeling. They are called to action, to do something about it. A lot of kids feel compassion when they see an animal suffering. Do you remember when you saw that little baby mouse in the barn and we didn't know where its mother was? Yeah, see, I can tell you're feeling it again now. That made you really sad, didn't it? That's compassion. And remember all those times when I asked you to clean the fish tank and you never want to, but then I say, you know, your fish might get sick and all of a sudden like that, you want to go clean the fish tank because you're worried about the fish. That's compassion, okay? Today, I've put together four stories about people who have tremendous compassion. You'll see the joy it brings to their lives and you'll see the difference it makes in the lives of others. Sometimes it can even save the lives of others, as you'll see in our first story from Minnesota. Just outside Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park police officers, Jeremy Hallock and Tony Weeks were driving around town recently. Just routine patrol. When they came across something remarkable. We just saw a car kind of pulled over. You could tell something was going on. And then as we got closer, you could see that he was giving chest compressions. Is he giving CPR? I think it is, look at him. When the officers got out, they found 19 year old Chris Felix, who cleans cars at the local Subaru dealership, attempting to revive a little one, who Chris says darted out in front of him and struck his vehicle. He didn't look like he had any life, you know. Had you learned CPR before? Yeah, I learned at high school. Did you ever think you'd use it? No, but it's always good to learn something. And he says you never know when you might be at just the right place, at just the right time to save a rodent. I couldn't believe it. He's giving CPR to a squirrel. Like it doesn't matter if it's a little life, you know, or a big life. Life is life. And because he believes life is life, Chris gave it a valiant effort. Sorry. I've never seen that before. Unfortunately, after a minute, there was still no response. The officers say deep down, they knew it was gone. I did. And then that squirrel took off like a bat out of... There he goes! I know! Hey! Oh my God, we got him back. Just wow, what did we just witness? Something I'll always remember. I will always remember it as well. On the one hand, nothing could be more insignificant. Yet I can even hear it in your voice, this mattered. Sometimes when nobody's looking and people do the right thing, it kind of shows who they really are. Not surprisingly, someday Chris would like to go into medicine, and let's hope he does. There he goes! Because if he can have this much compassion for roadkill, imagine what he could do for his fellow man. Hey, buddy. I just really like the fact that he cared about animals, because I feel like I'm sort of like him because I care about animals. Like you said, I cared about that baby mouse that fell out of its home in the barn. I think it's easy for kids, and it's almost the first thing they feel compassion about is animals. I feel like kids have this instinct almost, that when an animal is suffering, they want to take care of that animal. And certainly, that instinct is still very strong in Chris, right? Yeah. I hope that Chris does become a nurse or a doctor. I think he would be really good at that, because he could do it to a squirrel. Yeah, I really would like to see him do something like that, but no matter what he does, I'm sure he'll go through life with a lot of compassion. Our next story is also about somebody who has compassion for animals, even though growing up, people weren't very compassionate toward him. Watch this one. Eight-year-old Robbie Gay loves an underdog. Hey! Bring him to the Flagler County Humane Society in Palm Coast, Florida, as we did, and ask him to find a favorite. Can I get in here? He will seek out the oldest, mangiest, least adoptable mutt of the lot. There's nothing about old dogs, but I just like. Do you see yourself in these dogs? Yes, sir. He knows what it feels like not to be loved and cared for. He's the most hopeful, optimistic, and genuinely caring kid who has absolutely no reason to be that way. Robbie's adoptive mom, Maria, says before he entered the foster system, Robbie was a holy terror. So badly abused, he was twice hospitalized with brain injuries. Then, two years ago, Maria and her husband, Charles, adopted him. It was just a good day. What did that day mean to you? Everything. He has come a long way, except in this one respect. Maria says he could not cry, despite the horrors of his past, or maybe because of them. The kid was a stone. Until earlier this month. One of Robbie's old dogs, Buffy, had to be put down. He wanted to hold her till the very end, and insisted his mom take pictures of the process, perhaps because he knew what was about to happen. After Robbie finally let go, he told his mom, I know how it feels not to be loved or cared for, and I don't want any animal of mine to feel that way. Nor does he want any foster kid to feel that way. Because people don't want older people and older dogs. They only want babies and puppies. He is so aware that it could have gone totally differently for him. And in these older dogs, Robbie's found a place to practice compassion. Someday, Robbie wants to adopt older foster children himself. Go up and knock on the door. But until then, to show his commitment and do what he can, he has vowed to adopt as many old dogs as his parents will allow. You love her? Today, it's a lame, snaggletooth shih tzu named Molly. Molly's owner had to go into assisted living, but now Molly has a new home, thanks to the sweet little boy who sees his reflection in the eyes of the suffering. Seeing your reflection in the eyes of the suffering. That's almost another definition of compassion, isn't it? I think so. I have a question. Go ahead. Something happened to him when he had his parents that I was born with? Yeah, they didn't treat him very well. And as terrible as that sounds, Robbie took that terrible situation and really used it to make himself a better person, a more compassionate person, which is what I love about Robbie. And also, he was so aware that things could have gone so different for him. Like, he could have not been adopted at all. Right. We did a class one time where we talked about silver linings. Robbie certainly found a silver lining in the way he grew up, didn't he? And he's making the most of it. All right. Our next story is about a sweet married couple who were not treated very well when they checked into a hotel for their honeymoon. Fortunately, they got a honeymoon redo many years later, thanks to some compassionate fifth graders. At the Mount Airy Resort in the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Reverend Gilbert Caldwell and his wife, Grace, are arriving for their second honeymoon. We're here, we're here, we're here. They were greeted warmly. How are you? A sharp contrast to their first visit, 60 years earlier. In 1957, they were married in North Carolina, then drove eight hours, only to be turned back for being black. How did they put it? Did they give you a reason? First, they pretended I didn't have a reservation, where I actually brought a copy. And then, of course, they said, but if we said yes, our guests would be very unhappy. They had to stay at a black-owned hunting lodge instead. Men with these big guns. Not what you were planning on for your honeymoon? Not what we were planning on. Prodded partly by that experience, Gil immersed himself in the civil rights movement, working side-by-side with Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, he speaks about the movement, which is how he ended up at Bear Tavern Elementary in Titusville, New Jersey, last year. He told the honeymoon story, as he'd done a hundred times before. But for whatever reason, this group of fifth graders really took it to heart. At the end of the story, I was like, that's just terrible. It was really heartbreaking. Just because it's just so wrong. I feel like this is the worst thing that someone could do to someone. Even months after the Caldwells' visit, kids like Emily Eshelman are still this affected. You feel bad for them, that they had to go through that? A ton. A ton? Yeah. Which is why each fifth grader wrote a letter to Mount Airy. One said, the Caldwells made me think about not only standing up for myself, but standing up for others and fixing mistakes that were made in the world. In closing, the kids requested an all-expense-paid honeymoon redo, which they got. Makes me feel really good inside, because we know that even though we're just kids, we made an impact on the world. It was really magnificent to know that kids cared that much. Oh, the rug feels so nice. I should mention that the original Mount Airy was torn down years ago. What a beautiful place. This is a new building, with new owners, who were just so impressed with the kids, they wanted to help make it right. Maybe, was this worth waiting 60 years for? Obviously, this does not make up for decades of racial injustice, but it's a step and a sign that we can get there. I really like that those fifth graders cared that that couple should be treated better on their honeymoon. Yeah, they were great. And I especially liked Emily. You remember Emily from the story? Yeah, she had this way to just feel somebody else's pain. You could almost see it on her face, the pain she felt for them. And she put that into action to help, and that's compassion. All those kids had a lot of empathy and compassion. Just a great school, great kids. Okay, now we're gonna go on to our last story. This one is about some kids who showed a huge amount of empathy and compassion for a deaf student in their school. Take a look. Ready for cookies? Six-year-old Maury Belanger has a severe hearing impairment, but she's also very much a typical kid, which is why when it came time for kindergarten, her parents, Shannon and Matt, were torn. Send her to a school for the deaf? Yeah, eggs. Or to the public school here in Dayton, Maine, which was close and convenient? Okay. Unfortunately, at the public school, there weren't any other kids like Maury, and support was minimal. You always think of the bad things, like, you know, are they gonna make fun of her, or? Her fitting in. Thankfully, we made the right choice. You can guess what they decided. Or can you? Believe it or not, this is Dayton Consolidated Elementary, the public school where talking like Maury has become all the rage. You guys practice your sign language? Yeah, exactly. Kids here at Dayton have learned multiple things of sign language, so like door, window. Carrot. Quiet. Funny. Sad. What's that? That's not a sign. But I like to do it. I like to do it, too, but it's not a sign. Obviously, they're not fluent yet, but about a third of the kids here know enough to navigate a kindergarten conversation, like when Maury didn't notice the line was moving. The girl in the pink told her to walk, followed by the universal sign for way to go, Maury. And it's not like the administration is mandating this. There is no sign language curriculum. This is bottom-up kindness, students motivated by nothing more than their own deep desire to connect with this one little girl. Whoa! What they know, they learn mostly from posters, books, watching Maury's aid, and teaching each other. They want to do as much as they can for her. We want her to feel comfortable and safe and be able to kind of make friends with her. It's like if you got a gift basket. That's what she is, a little gift basket. Flowers and chocolate. Just a little bundle of joy. Eventually, Maury's parents say their daughter may need more support services, but they believe all she needs now is what she has here, a loving community. To know that people just accept her for how she is, she's just gonna succeed because of being at that school. There are signs of that already. That's our last story. We're done for the summer. Sad, huh? Did you guys like being part of this? Yeah. What do you think you'll take away from this? What did you learn? Oh, that's a tough question. I've learned so much. What class had the biggest impact on you, do you think? Service. Why service? I feel like it just pushed me to help out around the house a lot more. I did notice that. I noticed yesterday you put all the shoes away. Not just yours, but everybody else's. And it's almost like that need noticer that you invented. You don't carry it around everywhere, but he's starting to notice more things that need to be done. What about you, Meryl? I think honesty had the biggest effect on me. So you felt like you weren't being honest enough before? Not really, but you taught me to be more honest. Oh, thank you, sweetie. Even before the class, you didn't take the rollos. You're pretty honest even before that, but I appreciate the fact that you guys think I helped you. I have noticed a difference in your behavior as well. And I hope that all the boys and girls that are at home watching this, or in school, or wherever they happen to be, you know, I hope they got something out of it. What class affected you the most? I would say the class that I'm most proud of, and I was most surprised that it went as well as it did, and it was as well-received as it was, was the class about purpose. I almost didn't do purpose because I thought, boy, it's really hard to teach kids, you know, to find their purpose. Like, it's not the thing kids usually think about, you know. But we decided to do that as a class, and it did a lot for the kids, and it did a lot for me. I actually have a letter here I'd like to read. This is from a girl named Alana Calhoun. She writes, When I thought about what I can do with my life to change the world, I was stumped. I'm still in adolescence. I can't drive. I can't work at a hospital. I'm not even allowed to use my stove unsupervised. So what can I do? What is my purpose? What if my purpose isn't to change the world? What if my purpose is something as small as helping people in need when I see them? This isn't something that could solve hunger or stop terrorism. For me, maybe doing something small is enough to inspire others to do something big, and that is enough to change the world. Doesn't that kind of sum up why we started doing this in the first place? And by teaching the class, I found my purpose too. You know, I've been a reporter for a long, long time, and there's lots of awards over there that would imply that I've done a decent job at this. But I'm starting to think that least part of my purpose is to use the stories that I've told for CBS News to teach kids about kindness, empathy, character, purpose, all the subjects that we've touched on. I think that may be my purpose. So thank you at home for helping me fulfill my purpose, and hopefully our stories and our classes will live on for years to come and people can always revisit them. So thanks one last time, and be kind.