Our View – Editorial in The Highlander, Thursday, May 1, 2025
May flowers remind us to BEE Kind
We’ve all done it.
Maybe you remember the uncomfortable squirming in your desk chair during a test in high school. You knew the answer to the question, but you couldn’t stop second-guessing yourself. Or maybe you can easily recall a gaffe in public when you didn’t remember information as accurately as you hoped and answered an easy question incorrectly.
Often in life, the simplest answer is the right answer.
That’s what makes the Highlands Cashier Health Foundation’s BEE Kind initiative, which runs throughout the month of May, so effective. The approach to helping people who are dealing with mental health issues is so simple – yet so effective. The idea behind “BEE Kind” is if we are all a little nicer to each other, perhaps we can make each other’s day a little bit brighter.
Everyday simple acts of kindness can contribute to boosting mood, reducing stress, and possibly alleviating symptoms of depression or anxiety for yourself and others. In addition, what might seem like a small kind gesture could have a greater impact than you might think.
Something as routine as picking up the telephone can go a long way toward helping a person who is battling some form of mental health issue. Reaching out and starting a conversation lets the person know you care, and in many cases leads to more in-depth conversations about what they are going through. Being able to understand their position can be a critical step in connecting friends, coworkers, or even family members with resources they may need.
For information on how to begin these conversations, visit the BEE Kind Mental Health Resources page or attend a BEE Kind event. These events can be found at www.healthyplateau.org/beekind.
It’s not always comfortable to talk about mental health, but it’s past time that we all start having real, honest, conversations about the hurdles we face. The Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation has taken the lead by creating the BEE Kind initiative. Each of us should take a few minutes out of our day to put those words into practice.
