Amplifon Onlus Foundation launched on Wednesday 31 January Kindness Manifesto: an initiative conceived and promoted by the company foundation of Amplifon Groupaimed at promoting the social inclusion of the most vulnerable people, which aims to stimulate collective reflection on kindness.
The project aims to underline the importance of promoting kindness as an action and habit to be cultivated and trained in everyday life. “On the occasion of our fourth anniversary – he explains Susan Carol Hollandpresident of the Amplifon Foundation – we wanted to send a message on the importance of kindness in our society, bringing to everyone’s attention a theme which we witness every day with the Foundation’s activities in favor of more fragile peopleespecially of elderly people. The elderly themselves often teach us how essential it is to live in harmony with others and make simple gestures that we often forget such as smiling, greeting and thanking”.
The Kindness Manifesto goes beyond the abstract concept, transforming itself into a physical object that embodies the core of the initiative itself. It is not just a conceptual symbol, but a real physical manifesto enriched by an illustration and text carefully conceived to summarize the concept of kindness. “In fulfilling our mandate of social inclusion in times of great complexity, we have decided to combine the more traditional initiatives with a reflection and a program on the theme of kindness, understood as a desired form of our actions and relationships, and, ultimately, as a tool of peace, urgent and possible for each of us. We asked for a contribution from prominent people in civil society and a collective, kaleidoscopic and unexpected reflection emerged, which helps us to look at kindness as a possible, concrete and contagious alternative. confirmation of its commitment, the Foundation has included the value of kindness as a founding principle of its Code of Ethics and will include it as a form and substance of its corporate volunteering activities in favor of the elderly and in carrying out its action for social change”, he states Maria Cristina Ferradinimanaging director of the Amplifon Foundation.
A key element of the initiative is On Kindnessand podcast Of Mario Calabresiwritten in collaboration with the writer Paolo Di Paolo and produced by Chora Media for the Amplifon Onlus Foundation. Through four engaging episodes of approximately 20 minutes each, Mario Calabresi explores the meaning of kindness, investigating not only its application in everyday life, but also its anthropological meaning and its manifestation in history and nature.
“Kindness is a theme that has always been very close to my heart and I believe that today, more than ever, it deserves to be at the center of a collective reflection,” comments Mario Calabresi, CEO Editor-in-Chief of Chora Media. “Dostoevsky said that the world will be saved by beauty but what we see around us today suggests that only kindness and its daily application will be able to help us overcome such a complicated historical moment”.
Prominent guests such as Alessandro Barbero, Paola Cortellesi, Cristiana Capotondi, Luca Zingaretti, the poet Franco Arminio, the anthropologists Elisabetta Moro and Marino Niola, the zoologist Mia Canestrini, the essayist and psychiatrist Vittorio Lingiardi and the scientist and popularizer Stefano Mancuso, just to name a few.
The first episode of the series is already available starting from Wednesday 31 January, on the main free audio platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Google Podcasts). Subsequent episodes will be released weekly until Wednesday, February 7, offering everyone the opportunity to immerse themselves in a unique journey to discover kindness.
Fondazione Amplifon Onlus and Chora Media invite the public to actively participate in this initiative, spreading the Kindness Manifesto and following the podcast to help promote a wave of kindness that can permeate every aspect of daily life.
The Kindness Manifesto – The text
Being kind takes courage.
Sometimes weakness appears, but kindness, on the other hand, is strength.
Kindness has always belonged to us.
It exists in children from their first gestures in life; it exists in nature and in animals, even wild ones.
Kindness is deep, silent, free, peacemaking and brings hope.
Kindness listens and asks for nothing in return. Kindness must be cultivated, exercised and spent in the present.
Kindness is giving life to relationships, making them grow, making sure that the roots are firmly on the ground.
Kindness is learning from plants, which support each other by intertwining their branches to grow stronger.
Kindness is a powerful virtue that must be trained with patient consistency.
Kindness is necessary and urgent.
Kindness is a hidden place of the heart and holds the secret of invincibility.