Kindness, Mr. Rodgers and a Virtual Candy Cane

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

Are you “jingle belling,” yet? Do you feel the spirit of the holidays, yet? Have you had the taste of a delightful cup of peppermint mocha, yet? How about a candy cane, which evokes the scent and taste of the season? Come on, change that frown of the Grinch into the season of giving, kindness and smiles.

I travel with a basket of fresh (not the ones from last Christmas) candy canes in my car and pass them out to those I come in contact with throughout my day. It makes me feel good to give a candy cane to those who I work with, bring groceries to the car, drive-up Target orders, dry cleaners, etc. The candy cane recipients leave with a smile and a shout of “Happy Holidays.” A win-win for sure and it feels good in your soul.

The many lessons of kindness learned from Mr. Rodgers are numerous. What am I talking about? Humble Fred Rodgers impacted a change on the youth of America and the world through his “little” underfunded PBS children’s show, “Mister Rodgers’ Neighborhood.” Fast forward to December, 2019. The release of the new Tom Hanks movie, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” highlights the positive influence Mr. Rogers had on people, both young and small, even now. According to a CNN article Tom Hanks just learned through a DNA kit, he was actually related to the character he portrays in the movie, Mr. Rogers. “Fred Rogers and Tom Hanks are sixth cousins.” How cool is that to know as you watch the movie.

One of my favorite Mr. Rodgers quotes is, “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” Kindness to your fellow writers definitely will fuel your own personal writing success.

In my job with Southern Writers Magazine, I’m on the email list of a number of publishing houses. One of those is Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. Anyone can sign up to receive their offers which include some free book downloads. Here is where you can sign up to get your own email from LPC. In their email yesterday it started by saying “Help our authors BE the Light! Forward this email to one friend and post your reviews on Amazon & Goodreads.” A simple request. Anyone has the power to show kindness to others. Merely, forwarding one email to one person, sharing an authors information and leaving positive reviews, will help fuel your own success especially if you sign your name and list your book title after your name. In doing so, this is your way to give a virtual candy cane to a fellow author.

Enjoy the Holidays by passing out many virtual candy canes and real ones, too. Kindness makes you feel great!

Pay It Forward

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

Trevor McKinney knew too much. The son of an absentee abusive father and an alcoholic mother, this twelve year old boy cared too much for himself and as a byproduct the world. The course of this boy's life was radically altered when his curmudgeonous Social Studies teacher, Eugene Simonet, gave a class assignment. 


Trevor proposed a new social system under which a single person performed three acts of extraordinary kindness for three complete strangers. As repayment, the recipient would be asked to "pay it forward" and do an act of extreme compassion for someone else. He believed that if people kept paying kindness forward that eventually the course of the world would be altered.


Trevor McKinney existed only as a character in a movie but I wonder how it would impact the effectiveness of a social media strategy if one began to pay it forward. Could we for example:

• Ask the next person who's Facebook page we like, to visit the page of a friend instead of our own
• Blog about an acquaintance's upcoming book release
• Encourage the person we just retweeted to retweet a quote by someone we admire

Trevor McKinney passed away the same year he initiated his experiment. He died believing his project to be a failure. In reality the movement changed innumerable lives and not just those written into the fictional story line. Today a non-fictional foundation exists to promulgate this boy's dreams into reality. 

Do you like me have big dreams you want to see become a reality? Pay it forward. Perhaps the person who ultimately gets paid is you.