The Wallet That Called

He drove home with shrimp sauce and a gift card. He walked inside and his wallet was gone. The money meant nothing. The photos of people he'd lost meant everything.

Then a stranger appeared at his window holding it — she'd driven 2.6 miles out of her way to return it. Kevin Smith couldn't let that go. His attempt to thank her became Kindness Worldwide, a nonprofit now recognized in communities across the world and presented before 40 nations in Italy. In this episode he goes back to that morning, to a question his best friend once asked him, and to the one door he didn't answer that he refuses to miss again.

This is Part 1. Part 2 is a separate episode — listen to it next.

About our guest: Kevin Smith is the founder of Smith Wealth Advisory Group, recognized by Forbes and the Financial Times as among the top advisors in the country, and the founder of the nonprofit Kindness Worldwide. 

Smith Wealth Advisory Group: https://advisor.janney.com/smithwealthadvisory/ 

Kindness Worldwide: https://www.kindnessworldwide.org/about

Watch the full conversation on the Rise From The Ashes YouTube channel and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@BazPorter

Thank you to Our Partner C-Suite Network.

Transcript

Panic to Relief: Lost Wallet Returned Home

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It was almost like going from despair to being overjoyed at an instant. Kindness is a superpower that each and every one of us possesses. In that precise moment, where I'm about to go back to the store in the hopes I might find it, there's a young woman who magically appeared, almost like an angel out of heaven, at my front door, holding my wallet, asking if it was mine. It all happened so fast that I was just inspired by what had occurred. She literally went the extra mile, 2.6 miles to be exact, from the grocery store to my home, to return it immediately without hesitation, the moment she found it. It was almost like going from despair to being overjoyed in an instant. And people think, well, it's just a wallet. It wasn't just a wallet. What was meaningful to me was the things that were in the wallet. I had photos of lost loved ones, memories. And there was much more than the money. Kindness is a superpower that each and every one of us possesses. You're

Meet Kevin Smith, Founder of Kindness Worldwide

SPEAKER_01 0:58

listening to Rise from the Ashes Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. I am Baz Porter. This is Rise from the Ashes Podcast, and I am so excited today. We have a guest. His name is Kevin Smith, and he is the founder of Kindness Worldwide. Kevin, please send hello to the world. Introduce yourself. Talk with people who you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Well, hello, everyone, and thank you so much for having me, Baz. The truth is, I'm just an ordinary guy who was touched by the actions of an ordinary woman who did an extraordinary thing. She was kind. And one act of kindness really spawned an adventure of a lifetime that continues to this day. It already inspired me to form the nonprofit Kindness Worldwide, which has a vision to create a culture of kindness in communities throughout the world. I do have a day job before this Adventure of a Lifetime. By day, I'm a wealth advisor. I'm celebrating our 25th year as the founder of Smith Wealth Advisory Group. It's very meaningful to me to help translate the monetary resources of others into meaningful life experiences. I've always felt the meaning of life is to live it in a way to make a meaningful difference. And so I'm blessed to do what I love by day and make a difference in the lives of others. And now literally trying to change the world by bringing more kindness into a world that needs it now more than never. So life is good. I always say, see the good, be the good, go the extra mile. That's what has led me to meet you and so many other wonderful people that I never would have had the blessing to have met were it not for one simple act of kindness on Good Friday morning 2023.

Good Friday Lost Wallet Story Goes Viral

SPEAKER_00 2:39

I want to go back to that moment. I know you tell the story often to many, many people. Could you just share with the viewers as much as you wish to about what actually happened? Because I involved a wallet and losing it and then getting it bank. Can you share what happened with the viewers, please?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yeah, I'd be happy to. Well, share what happened, but it's also important to all at some point go back and talk about what really precipitated it. Why did I respond the way I did? But what happened was on Good Friday morning 2023, my wife Ann gave me a honeydew that list to go to the grocery store to pick up two items. She even told me exactly where to go because I get lost in grocery stores. I never know where anything is. And in any event, I purchase the two items, I check out, drive straight home, and I pull in my driveway at precisely 9:55 a.m. Ring doorbell footage, captured it all. I walk inside and realized I left an important item behind, which is my wallet. And in a state of panic, my fingers literally on the panic button with the ignition button of my car. In that precise moment where I'm about to go back to the store in the hopes I might find it, there's a young woman who magically appeared, almost like an angel out of heaven, at my front door, holding my wallet, asking if it was mine. And from that point on, I thanked her at the time. I asked her her name. She gave me her first name. That's all I knew. She said it was Brooke. She drove away. It all happened so fast that I was just inspired by what had occurred. She literally went the extra mile, 2.6 miles to be exact, from the grocery store to my home, to return it immediately without hesitation, the moment she found it. And I just felt a thank you wasn't enough. I felt I should have gone the extra mile for her in some way. And from that point on, an innocent attempt to simply say thank you in a more meaningful way became an adventure of a lifetime, impossible to put into words. There's actually a film now that tries to do it justice in about 80 minutes, but even that doesn't come close. But it became so much more than thanking her in a more meaningful way. It actually almost miraculously opened up pathways to make a meaningful difference. And that already led to this adventure of a lifetime that caused me to be inspired to launch Kindness for a Why, the nonprofit, which has a vision to literally change the world through kindness. So that's what happened on Good Friday morning 2023. And you know, many people often ask, well, you know, people lose wallets all the time, people return wallets all the time. You know, this act of kindness literally changed my life for many reasons. And people want to know, well, why? I mean, why did you react the way you did? And I'd be happy to get into that if if you would like, but uh but I'll pause for now in case you have any follow-up questions or anything more you think your audience might want to know about what happened on Good Friday morning 2023.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

What was the emotion like? Obviously, it was fear originally, but the elation, what was that emotion when you just saw that the I must call her the angel brook at your car window? What was that because that many people go experience panic, but you're like, where did this come? Explain that if you will.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

It was almost like going from despair uh to being overjoyed at an instant. And people think, well, it's just a wallet. Uh it wasn't just a wallet. I mean, the money can be money's not a big deal to me, right? People, you know, it's it's whatever money was in the wallet wasn't a big deal. What was meaningful to me was the things that were in the wallet. I had photos of of lost loved ones, you know, memories that I could never replace, you know, the photos that were important to me. Just the time and convenience of replacing credit cards and driver's licenses. I mean, time is valuable, I mean, time is limited. And there was much more than the money. The money was really meant little to me. And so you kind of go through these emotions of like, oh my gosh, you start thinking about all that that's going to entail, and oh my gosh, you know, the photos and never getting that back. You assume the worst, you see the bad or think the bad. And right when you're in that state of mind, you instantly go from, oh my gosh, there's a young woman holding my wallet, like, and you start wondering, how did she find my wallet? Like, how did she get here? And what happened? You just are so inspired.

Doorbell Camera Captures Stranger's Kindness

SPEAKER_01 6:50

You know, all the news is so negative that these days. But we turn on the news, what we watch and what we read is is predominantly negative. It conditions us to see the world through a lens that's half empty instead of half full. Truth is, good and kindness are everywhere. We just need to open our eyes to see it. And I was kind of in a state of mind where I was watching the news too much, getting conditioned without even knowing it to have a jaded view of the world. And this act of kindness essentially snapped me out of a subconscious trance and inspired me. I felt if anyone was aware of the story, it would inspire others too. And so I impulsively emailed the local news, all of them, thinking that if someone would cover the story, it'll inspire others as well. But more importantly, I thought if anyone would cover the story, it would, and this young woman would see it, it'd be a way of thanking her in a more meaningful way. And one local reporter replied within seven minutes after I sent the email, and and she came to my home the following Monday and did an interview, and it aired that night, and it went viral. I mean, it became a story in practically every state in the country, which kind of shows how much negative news is out there. It doesn't take much good news to stand out. Who would have thought a lost wallet would make national news? Which is kind of sad that that would be newsworthy, but it made the news and it inspired so many people bad. So many people were commenting about this young woman and what she had done. And I'm like, does this young woman even know that this story even exists? And that was why I reached out to the news originally. And it was a it was a Hail Mary attempt. It was a long shot, but no Hail Mary pass was ever caught that was never attempted. So I decided to throw one of my own. All I knew was our first name, Brooke. I went on Facebook under the name Brooke. I assumed it was spelled with an E. But Baz, do you have any idea how many Brooks there are on Facebook? I for afraid to even fathom. Well, more than a few. I'll leave it at that. And I I scrolled under the name Brooke, hoping I might see a picture or something that would stand out and resonate. And I scrolled for probably a good 20 minutes, literally about to give up. I'm like, this isn't going to work. What are the odds? And I scrolled one more time. And the very next image I saw was a profile picture of a young woman and her dog. Caught my eye, and I thought maybe it's her. Wasn't sure. I messaged her with a link to the news story. I said, Are you the brook in this story? And sure enough, it was her. And I was so struck by her modesty and humility throughout. She actually thanked me for thanking her. And she made a comment that really planted a seed in me. She said, Kevin, I'm just a blurry face. Because in the news segment of the ring doorbell footage that you know aired in the story, they blurred at her face to protect her privacy because no one knew who she was. And when she made that comment, I'm like, no, Brooke, you're more than the blurry face. You did this wonderful act of kindness that inspired so many people. And but that comment stood out to me because think about in our world today how many people feel like the blurry face. They feel like their life lacks meaning or significance, that they're not noticed, they're not seen, they're kind of going through life behind the scenes. So that comment really struck a chord with me. But in any event, at least I knew that uh, you know, I this young woman was aware of the story and she was excited about it, as was I. And uh, but that comment really then planned a seed that really, and in many respects, was an inspiration for what came next uh after that point in time.

How One Act of Kindness Built Kindness Week

SPEAKER_00 10:17

There was obviously this recognition of you having the possibility of changing so many people's lives. What was the initial thought for you going, well, that this could be not just an act of kindness, but an act of a kindness movement for you?

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Well, let me go back a little bit for Good Friday morning 2023. It was probably a couple years before, and I was having a conversation with my good friend Tony Fry, who, by the way, one of the items to at the grocery store was to pick up shrimp cocktail sauce because we were my wife and I were hosting Tony and his wife Jen that evening. And so my wife sent me to the store to buy shrimp cocktail sauce. That was one of the two items. The other was a gift card for my niece who was celebrating her birthday, a McDonald's gift card, by the way. But at any event, like many of us, I was very frustrated by what I would see and read in the news. At the time, there was a lot of rioting. There was people, in many cases, uh targeting police. I mean, there were some very, very unfortunate incidents that you know were very disruptive and concerning, and people were rioting and blaming all police for the a few bad actors. And meanwhile, we had so many political divisions, and people and families weren't talking to each other because of who voted for who and all this tension. And it bothered me, it weighed on me. And I would vent, and I would vent to my friend Tony, and I and I would be so frustrated at what I thought was a lack of leadership. I felt that there were people in leadership positions, people that were elected into office, but just because you're elected into office doesn't make you a leader. And I think there were too many people stoking the flames instead of diffusing them. And I also saw it in the media, you know, the media was stoking the flames, not reporting the news accurately. I think it was more about narrative, not based upon truth, you know, whether it's for clicks or ratings, whatever, but like I think a lack of ethics and integrity. So I'd be so frustrated. I'd vent to Tony and Tony listens, is very empathetic, but he looked me in the eye, Baz, after all this vent, and he said, Kevin, I hear you. I understand, I know where you're coming from. He looked me in the eye and he said, What are you going to do about it? And at the time, Baz, I look back at him, dumbfounded. I'm like, what do you mean? What am I gonna do about it? There's nothing I can do about it. I'm just an ordinary guy, I'm one person, I can't do anything about it. I can be frustrated, I can vent, I feel better maybe by venting, but it doesn't solve anything. But that comment, what are you gonna do about it? It also planted a seed because I used to feel powerless to do anything about it. And then when this act of kindness happened and how this chain of events unfolded, and it occurred to me that I wanted to publicly recognize this young woman. I felt she deserved it. And the media had moved on. I mean, I thought I discovered this young woman was. I thought it would be newsworthy after the story went viral that hey, I now know I know who Brooke is. Her name's Brooke Dubs, and she has a story, and I wanted to share the story, and the media moved on, but I didn't. And I felt this young woman deserved to be publicly recognized uh in some way. And so, in that desire to see that she got the public recognition she deserved, it took on a life of its own. It started to open up pathways, and it led to what at the time was a community celebration of kindness. We were holding it at the York County SPCA, this connection to animals. I later discovered that she was passionate about animals like me and passionate about the York County SPCA, was I'm an animal lover too. So, and there was a quest with the York County SPCA, and thought, well, let's have a community celebration of kindness. Let's publicly recognize this young woman. And then I'm like, well, what does a community celebration of kindness entail? And it occurred to me that we don't do enough to celebrate what I think is humanity's greatest asset, which is kindness. I mean, there's a world kindness day, but even then I felt too few people are aware of it, really celebrate it. And I did some research and I'm like, well, why don't we have a kindness week? And why don't we formally recognize kindness? And then I got mayors to issue a proclamation of kindness week, and then I got commissioners, and then I got Governor Shapiro, state of Pennsylvania, supporting it. And then I'm like, well, okay, we we we formally recognized humanity's great assassin. Well, now what? And then kindness citations, the idea of kindness citation. Again, getting back to the police community relations, which were not ideal. And I feel felt like, what can I do about it? Well, maybe we can change the paradigm, and maybe we can have the police issue citations to cite the good, to see the good in our communities that defines our communities, the people that make our communities so so vibrant, instead of just protecting our communities from criminals and crime, which there's a role for that, but let's turn it around and change the paradigm and have the police see the good in our community, but have the community see the good that defines our police. So kind of citations came about. And then ideas kept coming and coming. It kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then it actually, my paradigm of the world changed. Instead of feeling powerless, feel like there's nothing I could do about it, I became empowered to feel like, you know what, maybe there's something I can do about it after all. And instead of pointing the finger at others, and there's a lot of finger pointing that can go around, I realized, you know what, I can't control the actions of anyone else. I can only control my own actions and behaviors. And I had like an epiphany. I I looked in the mirror, and instead of pointing the finger at others, I pointing the finger at me. And I realized that it's me that needs to do better. It's me that needs to be better, it's me that needs to go the extra mile. And maybe, just maybe, if I leave by my own example, which I can't control, maybe I can inspire others to follow it. And maybe this community celebration of kindness, we can then scale it. Maybe we can bring this magic of kindness week to every community. And why don't we have every governor formally recognize kindness we're wide? And why stop there? Why do why shouldn't every country in the United Nations at least agree on kindness? There's so much focused on our divisions. Can't we all focus on what unites? I don't think there's anyone in the world who would disagree with the statement that our world needs more kindness. Well, how do you get more of something we all universally agree we need more of? Well, you encourage it, you recognize it, you reward it, and you celebrate it. And that's what kindness week worldwide is all about. And so let's change the paradigm. You know, let's remind people there's formula that unites and divides. You know, we can rewire the brain through neuroplasticity. I've certainly since learned there's a brain science behind all this. We can bring people back to the light, reverse this trend of what I refer this epidemic of empathy erosion. We can reverse it and get people back to remind them about kindness and just making it top of mind, part of our daily lives routine. So that's where you know this paradigm shift of instead of feeling like there's nothing I can do about it. Now I can look my friend Tony Fry back in the eye and say, Tony, I'm doing something about it. And and we, he's my best friend, and we get together often and we reminisce a lot. And so he has a big role in this story, not just because of the shrimp cocktail sauce I bought for the party we're roasting that evening, but for that comment he made several years ago. Kevin, what are you gonna do about it? Well, I'm doing something about it now.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

So I've

Brooke's Story, The Ripple Effect, and the Film

SPEAKER_00 17:08

got to ask about Brooke. Is she still a part of your world? Is she still promoting what you do as a result of what the the act of kindness that she did for you? Or is she just dissolved into the ethers and he's just quite happy with her dogs and jungle in life?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Well, Brooke will always be part of my world, and I think I will always be part of her in some way. I mean, our stories are are interconnected now forever. Uh, I am absolutely convinced, Baz, that I was meant to go to the grocery store that morning. And I'm absolutely convinced that that young woman, Brooke Dubbs, was meant to find my wallet. There's been a boomerang effect, a subsequent chain of events, where just like she went the extra mile for me, I guess it's fair to say that after she was publicly recognized and we launched Kindness Worldwide, that actually was this community celebration of kindness actually morphed into kindness worldwide. And and this community celebration actually morphed into kindness week worldwide. And soon after we publicly recognized her, a series of events where let's just say that I needed to go the extra mile for her. Situations I became aware of. And actually, it's there's a film now that's out. It's not publicly available, but it's screening at film festivals. The film is called For Such a Time as This. And it's the origin story of kindness worldwide. It it talks about this beautiful story of the ripple effects of this act of kindness. Um, many other powerful stories of the transformative power of kindness and become interwoven with my story, The Lost Wallet. You know, the ripple effects have not only changed lives but saved lives. It's that powerful. And but all throughout, and so again, the film it's actually nominated for the most inspirational documentary. I'm gonna be in Orlando, Florida, at a screening at the International Christian Music and Film Festival in late April, early May, and excited about that. But this story talks a little bit of what happened after, and it gets into these very powerful stories. And I was always very protective of Brooke throughout. Like I said early on, Baz where this was going. It's hard to describe, but I knew I could understand human nature, and I and I and I believe in the heart of my local community, and I knew if they would respond the way they did, their other communities would too. And our world is thirsting for this right now. And and I knew that that could be very difficult. It was very difficult for me to process how big this is becoming. You know, it's much bigger than me. And I I wanted to make sure that Brooke was very comfortable throughout. Like, Brooke, are you okay with this? You know, are you okay to be publicly recognized? Are you okay with the attention this might reflect back on you at some point? And she she was very protective. And then with what happened afterwards, I won't go into detail, but like many of us in life, I mean, Brooke was dealing with some demons. And it takes a lot of courage to confront your demons. And Brooke not only did, but she was we had a bit of a reunion afterwards, and and she knew that this film was going to be made and she wanted to be part of it. And I didn't know what would happen. Uh, I didn't know if she wanted to recreate the events that occurred afterwards, but she did. Took a lot of courage to talk about it. She did on camera, and then also her friend Emily, who actually drove her to my home that day, was part of this, and she has a story too. But I learned a lot of things after the fact that I didn't even know about this act of kindness and some of the struggles that she was dealing with, and and uh she wanted to talk about it. And I I have absolutely no doubt, Baz, that her courage, and as people see this film, it's going to change lives, it's going to save lives, and not just her story, the other stories that are now part of this film, too, that have become interwoven in it. There's a lot of delicate subject matter that many people don't want to talk about that I think our world needs to talk about. Things like addiction, things like domestic violence, things like child and sexual abuse, you know, things like depression, suicide. This film, in a magical, beautiful way, actually addresses all those topics in a way that's very powerful. And I do believe this film is going to be a catalyst to change how we see others, how we see and treat others, how we see kindness. I think we'll we'll all see kindness through a different lens. It's that powerful. But to answer your original question, I keep in touch with Brooke. She's doing well. I don't touch space with her every day or even every week. I mean, I pick my spots, but I keep her apprised as to what's happening. She's very excited. She's very moved by the fact that her simple act of kindness has had this profound ripple effect in terms of how it's changed my life, how it's changed many other lives. There are people, Baz, that are alive today that would not have been otherwise were it not for her act of kindness. And a lot of this is covered in the film. And so to know that she, an ordinary woman, right? Flaws in all, we all are we all of us are imperfect individuals, as am I. For her to know that her simple act of kindness has had this profound impact on so many lives, very, very meaningful to her. And I think it's given her kind of a A new lace on life, so to speak, to see the world differently than maybe she once did as well. So it's a beautiful story, and the story continues. You know, Brooke and uh her friend Emily, they really were the ripple that became the wave that inspired kindness worldwide.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

I as you say that, I mean, I've had cuspimples for the last five minutes for what you're talking about. It reminds me of a concept commonly known as divine intervention through choice. You spoke about you were supposed to be at the supermarket. It was supposed to happen. But there's a deeper level, I think. And it starts with a choice within you, within every single individual. Kindness, I think, has the ability to create ripples of ripple effects, not just locally but uh globally, universally. What meaning does kindness have to you beyond the ripple effects? How does it start at home? Uh you you say there's definitions of kindness, but there's also self-discipline. There's also not expect uh the the definition between kindness and weakness is always the older saying about that. For you, what is the kindness ripple effect? Uh other than obviously the viral impact.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Well, you touched on a couple of things that are important to comment on. One is this is definitely a calling. If I could, if I told you all the reasons why I know it's a calling, it would give everyone chills. You know, kindness is definitely a strength. I defined in this love at action. Kindness is a superpower that each and every one of us possesses. It's the world's greatest superpower. It's free, and all it requires is a simple choice for each and every one of us to exercise it. Kindness is a choice. One of my favorite quotes is by Karen Salmondson, and her quote is be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people. That is a power as you, I, everyone possesses. If each and every one of us simply exercised that choice to be that reason, to be the best versions of ourselves at every moment of every day, every interaction of every day, our world would instantly change. And I think a couple of things, but if we go back, really back in terms of how I responded, why I responded the way I did, it wasn't just this act of kindness. It was

Faith, A Father's Last Memory, and the Calling

SPEAKER_01 24:08

a catalyst. It was almost a lifetime in the making. And I think I could go back to my childhood and I can kind of psychoanalyze myself in terms of why I am today the person I am, and why I went down one path when I could have gone down another. Number one, my mom was always my why. She passed away about 16 years ago. I miss her every day, and I always grew up knowing I wanted to make her proud. I learned a lot from my mom's example. My mom and divorced my father when I was three years old. Wasn't that she wanted to, but she felt it wasn't an ideal environment to raise two children on her uh in that type of situation. I have an older sister, niece, who's seven years older than I am. But my my biological father suffered from schizophrenia. And he was fine when he took his medicine, when he grew off his medicine. You know, as a young child, it was I was very impressionable. I was often embarrassed of my father. And my mom felt it wasn't a good environment, so she's you know divorced when I was three. But I, as life unfolded, in many cases, I became the father of my own father. Like, you know, I had to take care of him, I had to, you know, kind of monitor his role, her his his well-being. And in many cases, I wasn't the best son. I think uh I could have been better in hindsight, I could have treated him better because my father was uh just a teddy bear on the inside. He was just uh a wonderful individual, human being. But like many of us, he had his his demons and you know, and you know, with off his medicine, he was a different person. And despite him being a teddy bear on the inside, just the this most gentle person you can imagine, I would see how others would treat him. He would go into a restaurant, just want a glass of water, and many restaurants said he wasn't welcome to go there. Got to me, you know, years later. He lived in a sister living home close to my wife and I. You know, again, I was providing for him, making sure he got good care and in an environment where he would be supervised, take his medicine properly. And he was a very faith-based person, read the Bible. He probably had it memorized. And I'm a faith-based person now, by the way, much more so now than what I was than I wish my dad was alive today. I know he'd be very proud of my faith journey. But in his assisted living community, he would go to Bible study. Very important to him. He was told he wasn't welcome in his Bible study. And so I saw this credible human being, my dad, being treated with such unkindness. And yet, despite that, he kept it all inside. You know, he never reacted in an angry way, but I knew it weighed on him. And if I'm honest, you know, growing up as a young child, there were times he showed up show up at my school, you know, he was off his meds and it was embarrassing. And, you know, I didn't treat my father with kindness and love and compassion the way I should have. I didn't understand the way I do now, looking back. And, you know, mention about a calling and why I felt I this was a calling I had to answer. My last memory, my dad before he passed away, he'd often, you know, come, you know, I, you know, the sits of living community was near near to my home. And he'd often, you know, he walked a lot because his medicine would make him fidgety restless. So he walked and walked and walked, good exercise. But he would often come by and ring the front door at very sometimes inopportune times. We're ready to do something. And long story short, the ring, the front door bell rang on Valentine's Day. And my wife and I were ready to go to dinner. And we know it was my dad, and you know, and then and long story short, I didn't answer the door. The next day I'm out. I remember like it was yesterday. I'm in my car and I get a phone call. And I was driving at the time, and it was from the sense of living home. I said, Kevin, where are you? And I said, Well, I'm I'm on the road. I said, Well, pull over. For me that my dad passed away. Get asleep suddenly, unexpectedly. Great way to go. And so, long story short, Baz, my last memory of my dad is not answering the call, not answering the door. Now, meanwhile, fast forward to Good Friday morning 2023, what all happened, what unfolded. I said this is a calling. It's a calling from another father, God the Father. And my faith journey has evolved and faith is very important to me. And I knew it was a call. And as much as I tried to resist this calling, I was very comfortable before this journey began. I thought I had the rest of my life figured out. I was comfortably coasting, so to speak. And then there was a clearly a calling. I was being pulled in this direction. I never expected to go. Didn't want to go. I wanted just acknowledge this young woman, Brooke Doves, and get my light back. And I kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And I knew what God was calling me to do. I had to answer the call. I had to answer the door. I couldn't make that mistake twice. And this was uh God the Father, right? And you know, and you know, I wish I could go back in time. You learn from your mistakes, you grow from your experiences, good and bad. I'm a much better person. I wasn't a bad person before. I had bad moments. There's things I'd like to do better and relive again and do differently. But this one act of kindness, because of it, I'm a much better person now than what I was before. As meaningful as this journey of kindness worldwide has been, it's been the most meaningful thing in my life. It's the biggest thing I've ever attempted to bring more kindness into a world that needs it now more than ever. It's turned my world and my wife's world upside down. But love is sacrifice. I knew where this was going, I felt it, I sensed it, and how big this is going to become and what that was going to entail. Life as I know it now is very different than what I expect it to be. There's not always been rainbows and unicorns behind the scenes, but I have a conscience. And uh there's a scene in the film, it's a very powerful scene, where my brother-in-law, who happens to be my chief strategy officer now, I mean, he kind of was aware of what I was doing. And there was this document like of my objectives and where this was going. He didn't really know too much detail, but he happened to coincidentally be reading it when he was up for a family weekend and he read this document. And I'm in my corner chair, my dog's on my lap, and I got my coffee. I'm just I'm spent, guys. I'm exhausted, I'm burnt out. I want my light back. I want this to end. I kind of knew where it was going, but I just maybe it was still in denial. And my brother-in-law, who's who's in entrepreneurship, he's worked with startup companies, he's so that's it's his world. He said, he said to me, he said, Kevin, do you realize you have created in five months a sustainable, replicable model that has a higher probability of success than the most promising startup companies he's ever worked with takes five years more to do. And I looked at him like, what model? What are you talking about? I'm just planning this community celebration and so on. And I just want to acknowledge y'all, but he said, Kevin, this framework for kindness week, he said, you can't stop with York, York County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. He said, You can bring this to communities anywhere and everywhere. Our world needs this now more than ever. You've got to keep going, you got to start a nonprofit. And he starts to do a Google search and he said there's a domain name available, and it's kindness worldwide. And Baz, when he said that to me, he said, You know, you can't stop, you got to keep going. Like he just confirmed what I knew all along. And my head went down and my shoulders sank, and I knew my life would never be the same in good ways, but I also knew the price that would entail. But I have a conscience, and I knew if I resisted the call, if I didn't answer the door, if I ignored then what my brother-in-law pointed out to me that I already deep down knew, but I was denying if I didn't pursue it, it would weigh on me the rest of my life. There was really no choice. At that point, it was it was lose-lose, meaning that it's meaningful this is win-win. It's meaningful. The world's uplifted by it. We need this, and it's gratifying to be part of that. The lose-lose is that you know, the bigger this became, I was mourning a death, and that death was the life I thought I was going to be living, that my wife and I were going to have together, this life of comfort and balance and all that would entail. That was gone. And if I didn't pursue it, my conscience would weigh on me the rest of my life. You know, I'm a coward, I'm part of the problem, not the solution. And so that's a long answer to your question to kind of reminisce a bit a little bit about why I acted the way I did, why kindness had affected me at such a young age, because I saw unkindness, I experienced unkindness, seeing how people treated my dad. I was unkind myself. I lacked compassion, I lacked empathy for someone who just wanted to be seen, wanted to be understood. And that blurry face comment by Brooke Dubbs, that's a lot of people in this world. That was my dad. He just wanted me to see him, right? He wanted others to see the heart within. That's where true beauty resides. You know, we put people in labels, we put people on tries, we, you know, we we stereotype people, we assume people are this or that, or because they're an alcoholic, or they have mental illness, or they have various challenges, we we perceive them in a certain way that's just not true. We got to start looking inside to the hearts where the true beauty resides, and start labeling, stop labeling people by what camp they're in, or what color their skin is, or what culture they're from. You know, my life has been shaped by many defining moments. One was Good Friday morning 2023, one was Valentine's Day when I didn't answer the door, one was just experiences growing up, but making my mom proud and all this, you know, overachieving and lack, you know, all the things that I can psychoanalyze myself, but kindness worldwide is a byproduct of all the above. It wasn't just that one event, it was really many, many events that led up to that catalyst on Good Friday morning 2023.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

I'm gonna pause in a moment for this halfway segment, part one. But before I do that, Kevin, I just want to acknowledge you for being who you are, for sharing very something very, very deep, clearly very uncomfortable sometimes to talk about. This is why I love doing what I do, because I know this message is gonna see that person and go, that's me. How can I participate? How can I be a part of this movement that you and so many others have the privilege of pushing forward into the world? I want to acknowledge that for you now. You mentioned something before we go, and I want to wrap it up with this leadership isn't necessarily leadership.

Real Leadership: Kindness Is a Strength

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Can you define in simple terms what leadership means for you?

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Well, leadership at its core starts with having integrity, character, principles, values, being true to who you are. And like for if I use an example of someone who's elected into office, a politician, many of them are looking at polls and they make decisions based upon what the polls say. Well, where are your principles? Be true to who you are. Say this is what I stand for, this is what I believe in. And if you vote for me, if I'm in, I'm in. If I'm out, I'm out. It's like, you know, why are people trying to adapt to others? Stand on principle, stand your ground and be firm. Um, I think leadership is also leading by example, being true to your word, following through, leading with actions, not just words. You know, anyone can say great words, you know, is there substance behind them? Are you gonna back them with actions? I think leadership is having a vision. You know, if you're running an organization, communicating the mission, vision, and values, shaping the culture of your organization or your team. Leadership starts from the top. People are gonna feed off good leadership. You want instill a culture of kindness or productive culture if you lead by example. And you got to be bold. If you believe in something, put it out there. I mean, I'm very bold, you know, I'm secure in who I am. I mean, I have strong values, strong beliefs. I'm proud of the values and beliefs that I have. I'm not perfect, none of us are. I don't try to be. But it starts, I think, with being secure. A good leader is secure in their values and principles, and they're not afraid to put their vision out there, no matter how bold it is. I'm very bold about saying what the vision of kindness worldwide is to create a culture of kindness in communities throughout the world. There's many ways to do that, but I'm very bold about the vision of kindness week worldwide. Every community, every mayor, every governor, every country, every president should go on record and take a stand and formally recognize kindness, to elevate kindness as a global shared value that represents all of humanity, and formally recognize kindness week worldwide, inspire constituents to donate blood, part of the framework to save lives, you know, to issue kindness citations. Every police department should be doing that to improve police community relations. You know, all the things to promote mindful kindness. I have no reservations, no qualms of putting that vision out there. And uh, and I know it's gonna happen, but leaders need to lead by example and to communicate their vision, instill that in their culture and their organizations, and not be cowardly, not be afraid or reluctant to put it out there because many people say, Well, what if it doesn't happen? How is it gonna look? How am I gonna look? How people are gonna look at me? Well, that's insecurity. It doesn't matter what other people think about what you know as a leader. If no one else believes in it, as long as you do, in my case, you know, Cosper Wide. I mean, I I I put my faith in God, I let go, let God, the more I do, the more He does, which scares me to death. But but at the end of the day, when you become less concerned about what other people think, and you act on principle, lead by example, it's what you know that matters. And if you believe it, if you don't believe in yourself, no one else is gonna believe in you either. So you gotta believe and you gotta be true to your convictions and you gotta inspire people. And if you lead by example, you will empower others into action, but you gotta put it out there, you gotta be bold. Kindness is a strength, and you should lead with it. And if you do, you literally will change not only your organization, but you will change your community and the world.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Kevin, your time, your energy, your love, your compassion. Thank you for all that you do. For that person listening, stay tuned for part two. We're wrapping up part one. Go and do yourself a favor and go and visit Kevin's website, trainersworldwide.org. It may surprise you to reach out to him, have a conversation with him, or maybe he's one of his staff because I know he's a bit busy. But most importantly, do it for yourself and do it for the future version of yourself. This is Rice on the Ashes. Please share the message if it resonates. Have an amazing day on purpose. And remember this you are the miracle.