Newtown was chosen out of several towns the Hockleys were looking at, mostly due to Sandy Hook Elementary. Little Dylan was autistic and the school there had great resources for him. He adored his special aide, Anne Marie Murphy, and they were found in each other's arms that terrible day.
Dylan loved the color purple, jumping on trampolines, and chocolate. He called lightning beautiful, even though the sound of thunder terrified him, and he would say hello to the moon every night. Dylan used to flap his arms up and down when he got excited, when his mom asked him why he did it she wasn't really expecting a reply. But Dylan happily told her, "Because I'm a beautiful butterfly!"
When I read about his statement about the butterfly it got me to thinking about something I had heard of long ago: The Butterfly Effect. Basically what the Butterfly Effect boils down to is the theory that everything in the universe, no matter how small and insignificant, can have huge effects - like the flap of a butterfly's wings setting in motion a chain of events that could cause a hurricane on the other side of the world.
And then I realized, that's exactly what these little random acts of kindness are. They are the flap of the butterfly's wings. One small act of kindness can turn around someone's day, which can then cause them to do something good - or at the very least, not do something bad - and the chain goes on forever.
These acts of kindness don't need to cost money. A simple compliment can change someone's outlook. Holding off on honking your horn when someone cuts you off in traffic. Saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, holding a door open, helping pick something up that was dropped... all of these are the flap of butterfly wings.
And then I stumbled upon the transcripts from Dylan's memorial service. I wasn't exactly shocked to find that his parents talked about the Butterfly Effect - after all, it is very fitting. This is a quote from their talk:
"Dylan is our butterfly. All of the children and adults who lost their lives last week are our butterflies. And if one butterfly can cause a hurricane, then 26 butterflies can change the world..."
So... onto my act of kindness for the day. Dylan was autistic. I have several friends and family members who have had to face living life in the autism spectrum. I know it's not easy for them - trying to live their lives, or helping their children live theirs, in a world that is too loud, too bright.. simply too much. I know that therapies are expensive, and that insurance often won't pay for them. So today my act of kindness was simple. I took my charity gift card (we had the kids give us gift cards for charities for Christmas) and made a donation to Autism Speaks in Dylan's honor. I hope that because of Dylan many more people will have access to to the things they need in order to live fuller and happier lives.
And I hope that little Dylan is now using those wings to fly as an angel. Fly on, Dylan.
"Every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness—even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile—reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away."-Dean Koontz
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