By Stephanie Lorfel Gelb
“How Rylan Foster is making the world better place each and every day”
Looking back three months ago, I see a storybook life. I was married to the most wonderful man, I had an incredibly supportive and loving family, a job that I not only enjoyed but also found very rewarding and a group of friends that would drop everything at any time to be at my side through the good and bad days that life throws at you. And my husband and I were excited to soon welcome our first child into the world. The possibilities of the future seemed limitless. Yet as always, you only see perfection through the glasses of hindsight.
“How Rylan Foster is making the world better place each and every day”
Looking back three months ago, I see a storybook life. I was married to the most wonderful man, I had an incredibly supportive and loving family, a job that I not only enjoyed but also found very rewarding and a group of friends that would drop everything at any time to be at my side through the good and bad days that life throws at you. And my husband and I were excited to soon welcome our first child into the world. The possibilities of the future seemed limitless. Yet as always, you only see perfection through the glasses of hindsight.
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| Rylan Foster Gelb
During my pregnancy I felt great. When people would ask the standard question about wanting a boy or girl, I guess my response wasn’t typical. Instead of saying I want a healthy child, I always replied with, “I want a good person, somebody who will leave the world a little better than he came into it.” I had a really easy pregnancy and I guess having a healthy child wasn’t something I worried about--as are most of the tragic things that strike us in life. My friends all had healthy children and even though I worried about many things because that’s part of my nature, somehow having to attend my sons funeral wasn’t on my radar.
Rylan Foster was born perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes, and he even smiled in his first picture. What baby smiles on their first day of life? Of course as Mary Schmich said in her words referred to as “The Sunscreen Song,” The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.” For us it was a Thursday at 10 pm when we found out our 10-day-old son had become septic from a late onset infection. Two days later we made the choice to remove the ventilator.
I guess I am lucky to make it to 36 without doubting the beauty of the world. Yet I’ve had plenty of times in my younger years when I wondered if it was all worth it, tough middle school years chubby with braces and social anxiety. But in reality, I’ve never had to face any real tragedy.
But now, I’ve learned that with this type of heartbreak comes doubt and the ability to forget about the blessings that do surround you.
Although Rylan’s stay in this world was short, I need to do something to honor him. And as I had always wished for, I know he was a good person and I know he left the world a little better than the one he came into. I’ve thought about ways to do this and I know there are many organizations out there that work on teaching people to be better: anti-bullying movements, pay it forward projects, random acts of kindness etc. These are all so important because they do make the world better.
Instead of reinventing the wheel with these ideas and organizations, I thought we could take all the wonderful things that people contribute and aggregate them onto one page. Overall, this page will serve as a reminder to all that life is beautiful, an inspiration to continue this kindness so that no act of kindness, no matter how small, goes unnoticed.
The page will have three parts: First, feel free to post reminders as to how kind people are by including anecdotes about someone who did something kind that brought a smile to your face no matter how small—because no act of kindness is too small. This could include things as little as an opening of a door or a random hello from a stranger. I think being aware of all the good deeds out there will help us appreciate the sprinkles of kindness that are part of each of our days.
And second, explain the random act of kindness that you did for somebody else. Maybe you wished somebody a happy day, you picked up a piece of garbage, or you were patient with a person at work or your own child There are so many good deeds out there and they really do make a difference.
Finally, sometimes a picture tells it best. Upload a picture of something that shows the beauty of this world. It can be something in nature that is beautiful, something that shows kindness, or a demonstration of love between people. Inspirational poems, songs, or quotes would also work. Anything positive is accepted.
Through this page, I hope that we’ll never again have to realize the blessings we have through hindsight and the words “Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it” will ring true and Rylan can continue to make the world a better place by reminding us how really beautiful this world is.
To let the world know about kindness you have witnessed or performed yourself, visit the Kounting Kindness website. |
