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KIND WORDS
Enhancing Self-Image Written by Claire Ginsburg Goldstein
Edited by Shmuel Greenbaum
Printed with Permission of http://www.TraditionOfKindness.org
Three years ago, I told my children that I thought it would be a great idea to have the kids I teach at our school make pins for children who are victims of terror in Israel. My son, Sam, who was almost eleven at the time, and a student at our school, thought it would be better to send teddy bears.
I mentioned Sam’s idea to my class, and within a week we had our first donation, a "Build a Bear," from the "Build a Bear" teddy bear shop at a nearby mall.
After that first donation, I found a free way to advertise; a community leader taught me how to post messages to local e-mail groups.
During the next several weeks the donations of stuffed toys started pouring in. I wondered, "How often would I be allowed to send emails to the same e-mail lists?" "Who would help me spread the word?" "Would the newspapers publicize the project?" These were questions that were flooding my mind. I certainly hoped that I would find help.
It was not long before help arrived. I had heard about a woman named Sharon Evans, whose daughter, Monique was wounded in a terrorist attack. Sharon had been speaking in my community about her new organization, Adopt A Family, which was trying to provide financial support to families who are victims of terror.
A friend told me that Sharon was leaving soon for Israel and gave me her cell phone number. I called her and told her that we needed help bringing our bears to Israel and distributing them.
She told me to meet her at JFK’s, King David lounge.
I asked her if my daughter, Shira, could come and interview her daughter, Monique, who had barely survived a terrorist attack.
Shira, helped me pack more than thirty bears into a duffel bag, along with our first donated "Build a Bear" and together, Shira and I and our first thirty teddy bears drove off to JFK to meet Sharon and Monique. We spent an hour together and discussed how we could get my family's project, "Bears from Bergenfield," off the ground.
As Shira and I handed over the "Build a Bear" to Monique, we asked Sharon and Monique, if they could hook us up with an organization that could distribute teddy bears to victims of terror. Sharon immediately made a call to Jerusalem to Yeshara Gold, the director of Kids for Kids. Yeshara told us to send the toys and her organization would distribute them to needy children.
That was almost three years ago. This week alone, a week before Chanukah 2005, we have already sent out 23 laundry bags, duffels and boxes to Israel, which totals a few thousand toys. We just finished shipping over 2000 stuffed toys to the Gush Katif children through Rabbi Pesach Lerner's (executive director of NCSY), 7 lifts.
Presently, in Israel, we give to 15 hospitals, 5 organizations that assist terror victims, 2 shelters for abused women, orphanages, a Jewish community center in Haifa for impoverished children, and any other place that would like to receive from us.
To date, Bears from Bergenfield, has collected close to 26,000 new and slightly used stuffed animals and teddy bears and we see no end in sight. We collect throughout the United States and hope to expand this venture to Canada and England and anywhere where people would like to join us.
Claire Ginsburg Goldstein’s 7th grade religious school class at Congregation Beth Israel of Bergenfield runs this program.
For further information contact
Claire Ginsburg Goldstein
lgcg98@....
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"Enhancing Self-Image"
From Kindness: Making a Difference in People's Lives: Formulas, stories, and insights
By Zelig Pliskin
Printed with Permission of Shaar Press
By Zelig Pliskin
Printed with Permission of Shaar Press
Self-image is a choice. It is a choice that is often not looked at as a choice. Our entire life history, especially our childhood, has a powerful effect on how we choose to view ourselves. The messages we heard from our parents about who we are had a major impact on us. The messages we heard from our family and close friends influenced us as did the messages we heard from people we met just once in passing. Some messages had a greater impact and others a more minor one. But all messages impacted on us. It is still our own decision about how we will view ourselves that is the key to how we define who we are.
While any individual can upgrade his or her self-image on their own, it is often more effective if an objective outsider shares with us a view of ourselves that enhances our self-image.
A person with a limiting self-image, will not readily accept your positive statements. Just mouthing the right words, "I think you are a wonderful person," may or may not have meaning. First, you need to really feel that this is true. "Words that come from the heart enter the heart." Second, that person needs to be made to feel that what you say is valid.
When you say things to boost someone’s self-image, he may respond, "You are just saying this to make me feel good." It’s quite obvious that you’re not saying this to make the person feel bad. But you must really believe and feel what you are saying. Then you can sincerely say, "I’m saying these positive things about you because they are true. And yes, I confess. I want you to feel better."
Believe in your own intrinsic value. When you have a deep and intense belief in the infinite value of each human being, the way you interact with others will automatically have a positive influence on their feelings about themselves. So every time you see your image in a mirror realize that you and every other human have fabulous worth. Integrating this yourself will enable you to spread this concept among others.
Be patient. Anyone who has had a low self-image all his life might not be open to making an immediate change in self-perception. At times one brief conversation might be the turning point for this person. Be prepared to have many conversations. How many? As many as it takes.
A friend related the following to me:
I recall seeing someone who radiated confidence and self-assurance in a modest way. This wasn’t how he looked just six months before.
"You look great," I told him. "Did anything special happen to you?"
"Nothing that special," he replied. "But I did hear one sentence that was obvious, but somehow when I heard it this time it had a great effect on me. I attended a lecture and the speaker said, ‘Your level of accomplishment is dependent on your self-image. And your self-image is whatever you decide it will be." ‘If it’s my decision, then I will decide right now that my value to myself is infinite. I feel this now and I guess it shows.``
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