I thought spending another day at the University of Akron woul be a good idea.   I found a good spot for the bus, pulled up and started to feed the parking meter.  At that point, a man in a U.of A. uniform pulled up in his golf cart and said, “Hi, you don’t have to feed the meter, we’re glad to see you.”  What a great place, I thought.

So, Bogart and I went off to begin our process, meeting students and anyone else interested enough to hear about my project.  I’ll bet I talked to a few hundred students; all seemed very interested in what was going on.  It’s this kind of reception that makes me believe that if this generation embraces what I’m doing, there’s hope for all of us. 

Just as I’m feeling great about what I’m doing and who I’m talking to, a very official looking woman came up to me and said, “I’m sorry to have to say this, because I love what you are doing, but someone complained about you, you’ll have to leave.  You can go down the street if you like, as long as you are off campus.”   What?  Instantaneous and complete deflation.  There are 2 things I just couldn’t figure out, who would complain about this and what could they possibly complain about?  Sheeese!  Even Bogart was miffed.  He looked at me as if to say, “Let’s get outta here.”  Back to the bus we went, as we got closer to it, I can see someone left me a note under the wiper, an invitation to talk somewhere, I’m sure.  Wait a minute…..it’s not an invitation…..it’s a parking ticket!  A parking ticket!   Some parking ticket giver ticketed the Kindness bus.   Can you believe it?  Later I found it was all a misunderstanding and things were set right.  Thank to the University of Akron Security Department.

The first day of my visit to the University of Akron,  I met Frank, one of the professors, and he was so interested he asked how we could keep our dialog going to continue moving the project along.  I was also invited to a soccer game to sit with a group of kids.  It was a great game, Akron beating Indiana 1-0.  Akron truly deserves their number 1 ranking.  He then invited me to spend the night at his house on Saturday, he and his wife Dorothy are having a few friends over and it would be a good chance to spread the word.

I spent the afternoon at Baldwin-Wallace University.  Another terrific reception, I’m sure I targeted the right group to focus on, these college kids are great.  After a while, people brought me food and water, just to hear more about the entire project.

A student named Nathaniel and a couple of his buddies belong to a number of campus groups.  All said they would like to get them involved in this project after I leave.  That is really music to my ears.

I arrived in Oberlin late this afternoon, at a farmer’s market, no less.  It turned out to be a great move because I was immediately greeted by many people who were interested and enthused about what I was doing.  My welcome included a tour of the city with a long time resident Glenn, dinner invitations, a free minor repair of the bus, and an interview in the Oberlin newspaper. It’s clear that politics have no meaning in the message I’m bring to these communities. 

Tomorrow I’ll be volunteering at the local animal shelter and I hope I’ll be able to bring along a few students to give me a hand. All in all, it has been a great reception, the weather has been terrific and the people have responded beyond my expectations.  Their enthusiasm is contagious and I’m really starting to think I’m on to something.  I’ve been invited back in a couple weeks to meet with more people who may offer some ideas on how to “spread the word.”  I’ll certainly be there for that.