Ben's Bells Overcoming Grief and Violence in Arizona

I didn't hear about the concept of Ben's Bells until a few days after the Tucson Arizona mass shooting that occurred on January 8th of 2011. Jared Lee Loughner is accused of shooting U S Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords point blank in the head at an outdoor meeting called a Congress on Your Corner. The shooting rampage wounded 19, and killed six before Laughner could be wrestled to the ground. While Loughner has been described as a loner who had radical political views and mental health issues, no motive for the shooting is known. The senseless violence sent the Tucson community into anger and shock waves and then despair that the world we live in is increasingly becoming so violent.

During a phone call to a friend who lives in Tucson and who had lost a friend and colleague in the shooting, she mentioned wanting to help place Ben's Bells around Tucson to help people with their sadness. She gave me a few facts about how the concept of Ben's Bells began, and later I read more about them. In 2002, a two year old boy, Ben Mare Packard died suddenly when a severe croup closed his airway. Ben's mother Jeannette Mare began making simple ceramic wind-chimes with a brass bell at the bottom as a therapy for her grief. She formulated the idea to hang the bells in unusual locations and to attach a note to each bell with a reminder to spread kindness. The simple idea to honor her son's memory has become a very powferful symbol of Kindness and Hope. On Friday, January 14, 2011, five hundred volunteers placed 1,400 of Ben's Bells around Tucson to help those who found them to overcome their grief and to promote healing.

The efforts of one mother has become the Ben's Bells Project. On Tues-Sat, volunteers gather to make Ben's Bells, and groups are welcome with advance notice. The colors of the ceramic bells are bright green, blue, red, purple and yellow, and the shapes include, hands, hearts, flowers, butterflies. The Ben's Bells are not sold. They are usually hung each Spring and Fall or various people have been "Belled" for exceptional acts of community service in Tucson. The Ben's Bells project maintains a web site bensbells.org. There is an online store to fund the materials for making the bells. Merchandise includes T-Shirts, Be Kind Necklaces and earrings, mini bead bells, Kindness ornaments.

Last March 29th on the anniversery day of Ben's death, the employees of The Aizona Republic newspaper in Phoenix, did a project where they brought 250 Ben's Bells to hang in the communities that comprise Metro Phoenix. The newspaper ran a story on Ben's Bells the following day, asking to hear from those who had found the bells and what the message to spread kindness meant to them. The stories from those who found them were amazing. Most of them had the theme of "I was feeling sorry for myself because of...but having discovered that bright piece of art with the message to spread kindness, it forced me to think outside myself."

So many people turn to ranting on social networks and web sites about everything that is wrong, which is a good outlet for many, but what might happen if at least some of that time was spent doing a simple act of kindness for a friend or stranger? As of yesterday, 21,218 of Ben's Bells have been given away.