Page 16 - Nous-288

Vie au Collège

Cycle Secondaire

CineSat

he Compassion Games 2017-2018
T“The Jar of Kindness”
“There is no hope for human survival if we do not change
to a loving world. There’s no hope for anybody if we do
not create a world of compassion and generosity,” said
Dr. Patch Adams. It all started mid October 2017 after our
first ‘’CineSAT’’ gathering that took an unexpected turn.
In fact, unlike previous years, CineSAT is no longer about
watching a movie and writing an essay about it. Instead,
it’s about narrating your personal experience while
endeavoring to make this world a better place. We were
introduced to the Compassion Games, an international
game where people compete by doing as many acts of there was one class that put money in the jar, thinking
kindness as possible, through short videos followed by that was our purpose, which really discouraged me. Later
thought-provoking discussions. We wanted to be the on, I started hearing people talk about how ‘’useless’’ it
first Lebanese team to join in and take action. Which is was and how nobody was taking it seriously! It made
why, after Sarah Azouri’s (my) suggestion, it was decided me feel extremely offended to see how much others
to take on a challenge called “The Jar of Kindness” to the undervalued something we worked so hard to achieve.
grades 10 and 11 students of Collège Notre-Dame de At some point, it even felt like my teammates and I were
Jamhour from November until December. I now perceive the only ones taking this seriously! However, a couple
the world in a different manner; I now know we don’t all weeks later, we finally started hearing some positive
think the same way when it comes to compassion. feedback. I don’t mean to sound cliché, but seeing those
jars fill up really warmed my heart.
I should start by explaining the whole concept of “The
Jar of Kindness” and where it came from. During our first Of course, just like any other project, it had its ups
official meeting, we were divided into several groups in and downs. We struggled when 2 out of 10 jars broke.
order to come up with fun, interesting, and attractive Teachers accidentally threw away the notes thinking it
ideas as to how compassion could be introduced to our was garbage, and nobody informed any of us; we had to
classmates. Many suggestions were given, but the idea of find that out all by ourselves and replace the jars as soon
the jar really stood out by its simplicity and yet originality. as possible. Our team work being so strong, we managed
We knew that by ‘’playing’’ this simple ‘’game’’, we would to find a quick solution and carry on with the challenge
eventually be able to determine how our society thinks. as if nothing ever happened. In addition, an extremely
However, instead of challenging a wide age range, only positive incentive of this project that encouraged me to
the eleven graders participated. About a month later, go further was actually the teachers’ responses. When
having everything figured out, I passed in all grade 11 they walked in class, they all asked what this jar was about;
classes to introduce this new concept and throw the and I, being the only participant in my class, explained its
challenge. In a week or so, all jars were put in place and meaning and purpose. Just seeing their reaction of pride
the survival of the kindest began. and pure astonishment cheered me up every time. I could
honestly say that it is thanks to the teachers that I realized
During the first couple of days, people were pretty that the older generations appreciate such things more
excited about this, and it all seemed to be going well. I than our younger generation does. They knew what it
would pass by some classes to track their progress and meant and understood its essence when nobody else my
see that many people were writing notes (supposedly age could. Furthermore, another thing that proved to me
acts of kindness). After that, I started noticing that the that what we were doing could be revolutionary was the
hype was vanishing and most of them lost interest; so I fact that a couple of people who didn’t attend the CineSAT
took the decision to check and compare the notes in the meeting decided to join the Compassion Group. In fact, it
different classes. It was on that day that I realized that just showed me that no matter how many people claim

16 Nous du Collège - N 288 - Mars 2018
o