Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman: Inclusion

continue our special series kindness 101 with steve hartman that's where we share stories that are built around themes of kindness and character and the people who have mastered those qualities this morning's lesson is inclusion and steve and his kids show us sometimes you don't have to walk more than a few feet to put yourself in somebody else's shoes good morning this is my daughter meryl hi and we welcome you to our lesson on inclusion for definition let's turn to our resident linguist emmett inclusion is to not leave anyone out to make sure that everyone is included have you ever felt left out of anything once in pre-k they were playing like kitchen i think and they said they had enough people it felt like oh they don't want me i'm not good enough you ever had that feeling of it yeah i have it doesn't feel good so you guys know how painful that can be fortunately inclusion is a weapon against that and if you want to harness this great power you turn to the master of the craft a young man whose story lives in our archive of amazing americans categorized under inclusion when the lunch bell rings at boca high in boca raton florida 3 400 kids spill into the courtyard and split into their social groups but not everyone gets included here at boca high and at schools across the country someone always sits alone it's not a good feeling like you're by yourself and that's something i don't want anybody to go through dennis estemond is a haitian immigrant when he came here in first grade he says he felt isolated especially at lunch now he's a senior he's popular but he has not forgotten that first grade feeling to me it's like if we don't try and go make that change who's going to do it so with some friends dennis started a club called we dine together we done together we we died their mission is to go into the courtyard at lunchtime to make sure no one is starving for company dennis i'm here with you you're new here when did you first come here for new kids especially this is a godsend it's gabriel gabe how you doing as a result of the club hundreds of friendships have formed some very unlikely you're probably meeting kids you never would meet on the football team ever gene max maridu actually quit the football team gave up all the perks that come with it just so he could spend more time with this club i don't mind not getting a football scholarship this is what i really want to do just imagine how different your teenage years would have been what's your name if the coolest kids in school all of a sudden decided you mattered we get to know each other better it obviously takes a real devotion to inclusion to spend your lunch like this either that or first hand experience i went from coming from a school that i always had friends coming to where i had nobody so club member ali seeley transferred two years ago she says with no one to sit next to lunch can be the most excruciating part of the day see it's really unfair it's honestly an issue meeting someone who actually cares and lists and listens to what you have to say really makes a difference and that could happen at lunch that could happen at our club it's going to make a difference i'll be around tomorrow if you want to eat lunch together or something it's been almost five years since we first told that story and i'm really curious what dennis is up to now hello dennis hi steve good to see you again were you able to open other chapters of we died together right now we are in over i believe 2 000 counties what started in a high school cafeteria has swept the nation has become a movement i know this is your mission but is it also your job now yeah so full-time since we last spoke c i've really just been traveling and the child that came to this country not being able to speak the language has now spoken all across the u.s the child that couldn't even read or write is now in the process of writing a book to help people spread their own movements people don't just get left out in high schools they get left out in adult life too are there lessons for those folks in what you're teaching yeah steve i think the issue of loneliness and social isolation is something that we will continue to see at every stage of life whether you are 16 or you're 60 we have a responsibility to one another you're changing a lot of lives and helped a lot of kids so thank you so much really appreciate it thank you steve thank you so much so i guess we need to always be on the lookout for the lonely because sometimes all it takes is a hello to make the world a better place and with that we say goodbye and don't forget to stay kind [Music] we won't forget miss merrill we won't forget i love how she always gives us that charge at the end you know hello is always a good opening but i don't know any child who's sitting alone that wants to be alone even if they look like no problem i want to do this but nobody wants to sit in the lunch room i can recall the feelings from high school now that happened to me too a couple times on the occasion yes yeah and steve said it best at the end be on the lookout for the lonely and you said you can't imagine a kid that wants to be adults too and i know it's hard for us to step outside our comfort zone but maybe there's somebody who passed by on the bus the subway maybe having lunch that's sitting alone just say hi if they say don't bother me i'm eating a sandwich cool you can walk away after that yes if you say hi you did your job yeah yeah what a great piece always pulling at the heart

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 79,751

Keywords: video, cbs, news, kindness 101, steve hartman, inclusion

Id: xFxecMmunqY

Length: 5min 48sec (348 seconds)

Published: Mon May 02 2022