Synopsis (from Amazon): HumanKind is the heartwarming feel-good book that we all need right now.
Brad Aronson's life changed in an instant when his wife, Mia, was diagnosed with leukemia. After her diagnosis, Brad spent most of the next two and a half years either by her side as she received treatment or trying to shield their five-year-old son, Jack, from the worst of Mia's illness. Amid the stress and despair of waiting for the treatment to work, Brad and Mia were met by an outpouring of kindness from friends, family and even complete strangers.
Inspired by the many demonstrations of "humankindness" that supported their family through Mia's recovery, Brad began writing about the people who rescued his family from that dark time, often with the smallest of gestures. But he didn't stop there. Knowing that simple acts of kindness transform lives across the globe every day, he sought out these stories and shares some of the best ones here.
In HumanKind, you'll meet the mentor who changed a child's life with a single lesson in shoe tying, the six-year-old who launched a global kindness movement, the band of seamstress grandmothers who mend clothes for homeless people, and many other heroes.
Brad also provides dozens of ways you can make a difference through the simplest words and deeds. You'll discover how buying someone a meal or sharing a little encouragement at the right time can change someone's world, as well as your own.
The resource section at the back of the book provides guidance and organizations that will help you channel and amplify your own acts of kindness. Here you'll discover:
- How you can fund a surgery to cure someone's blindness with a donation of less than $200.
- Organizations through which you can provide a birthday gift for a child who otherwise wouldn't receive one.
- Multiple places where you can send letters of encouragement to support hospitalized kids, lonely seniors, refugees, veterans and others in need.
- And over fifty more ways you can change a life.
HumanKind will leave you grateful for what you have and provide a refuge from the negativity that surrounds us. This feel-good book will touch your heart. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll be reminded of what really matters.
All author royalties go to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
One (or more) Sentence Summary: How timely is this book? Exactly what the world needs today and everyday. What an amazing book filled acts of kindness both big and small. I truly believe that you never know how just saying hello with a smile can change someones day. There are people out in the world that do care and are amazing, wonderful people and this books proves it.
This book will make you smile, cry and laugh. It will make you want to be your best self. Sometimes we all need a little reminder or nudge and Humankind: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time will do just that for all of us. With everything that is going on in the world today we need more books like this so keep writing Brad! Pick up a copy for you and for a friend (or a stranger) today. I can't wait for our campus to be open because I am going to leave a copy of this book with a note in the cafeteria. I know someone will pick it up and read it. Hopefully they will pass on a copy as well. Be safe, be healthy and be kind.
P.S. This book also reminded me of all my mothers fabulous friends that were there for her and my siblings during her time of need. She too was diagnosed with leukemia in the fall of 2005 and after six months in the hospital with treatment so intense she had to learn to how to walk again. The chemo drained her of everything. It took her another 3 months to live on her own again in the house she loved. Unfortunately she passed away a year after being diagnosed and was not one of the 10% that bet the kind of leukemia. My siblings and I could not have gotten through that horrible year without the kindness of all her friends and people in her town. I will never forget what it meant to all of us.
Here are some stories you will read about in Humankind:
- A McDonald’s lunch shared by a New York City advertising executive and a hungry teen that led to a lifelong friendship.
- Cantor Fitzgerald, a company that was devastated by the tragedy of 9/11 and set an example by re-building the business to help others and inspire change, honoring the legacy of lost loved ones.
- A monthly $15 donation from a stranger four thousand miles away that allowed a child to finish school and inspired that boy to create a nonprofit that has helped hundreds of families and their future children escape poverty.
- An Olympic gold medalist and Major League Baseball player who credits his success to a third-grade teacher’s shoe-tying lesson and now inspires thousands of young kids as a way to pay that teacher back.
Brad Aronson is a husband and a dad, and when he’s holding the parenting reins, he likes to go all out. For him, that means leading an egg drop competition from the third-floor window of his family’s home or coaching indoor games of baseball and hockey, and then having to explain why something else is now in pieces. Luckily, his wife Mia is understanding. Much of this time is spent teaching entrepreneurship in Camden, N.J., and volunteering on the nonprofit boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters and Hopeworks.
Follow Brad: Author Website :: Brad’s Facebook
HUMANKIND: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time (LifeTree Media; April 14, 2020; Paperback; ISBN: 9781928055631; 256 pages; $15.99)
Awesome review! I'm going to buy this book!
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