A Trip to The Tustin Farmers Market

Last Wednesday I took a morning bike ride to the Tustin Farmers Market to get some eggs and veggies for the week. As I was getting some veggies from a very talkative and excited vendor named John, he asked if he could give me something. I told him he could. John went to the front seat of his truck and returned with a slip of paper. On it, contained a copy of the Optimist Creed. The creed is as follows:

Promise Yourself ...
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.


John went on to tell me that he was a retired Marine who had served our country for many years and now had passed out over 7,000 copies of the creed.

"Some people can't handle it," he said. "This kind of stuff is too much for them.."

The creed was written in 1912 but is the creed for the organization Optimist International.

Optimist International is an association of more than 2,900 Optimist Clubs around the world dedicated to "Bringing Out the Best in Kids." Adult volunteers join Optimist Clubs to conduct positive service projects in their communities aimed at providing a helping hand to youth. With their upbeat attitude, Optimist Club members help empower young people to be the best that they can be.

Each Optimist Club determines the needs of the young people in its community and conducts programs to meet those needs. Every year, Optimists conduct 65,000 service projects and serve well over six million young people.

So on a daily basis a man who has seen things that would probably make anyone cynical or bitter is selling veggies and giving away optimism.

Thank you John for making my Wednesday even better than I thought it would be and for being someone who does their part to make everyday interactions more genuine.

If you'd like to meet John and get some great produce and support local growers, the Tustin Certified Farmers Market is every Wednesday from 9am-1pm in the farmers market lot on El Camino Real in Tustin, CA.

If you'd like to learn more about Optimist International, their website is www.optimist.org

Follow us on Twitter @retrningdignity

Returning Dignity Challenge #2

A new week and a new challenge!

How many of you remember "Romper Room"? Well, at the end of the show, Miss Sally would always bring out Magic Mirror. It was mirror she used to see all the children at home who were watching and she would call out the children by name. You always hoped she would call out your name. "Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?"

So this week we are all going to use the Magic Mirror.

I want you to learn someones name this week.

Where do you go on a daily or weekly basis? Who is that face behind the counter who is always helping you?

I want you to learn their name.

"But Darcy, I'm not very god with names. I know faces."

LEARN THEIR NAME. Even if it takes you a while. Do it. Even if you have to ask them their name four times this week. Do it.

How would you feel if someone you saw everyday, who you served in some way or another, didn't know your name and didn't truly acknowledge you? You might be sad or worse resentful.

So let's set about this with diligence. Let's make our everyday interactions less ordinary and more genuine.

Follow us on Twitter at @RetrningDignity and post whose name you are learning this week.

Here's a little Canadian Romper Room to enjoy on this Monday

People Suck

People Suck.

We've all said it or believed it at some point. Usually because in some simple interaction, someone snapped at us or was bossy or just plain old mean.

But those folks didn't start off that way. People treat other people badly, because people treated them badly in the first place.

So it's easy to wanna be mean and rude right back to them, but we can either continue that suck cycle or try and break it. The whole, "kill them with kindness" thing.

So the next time someone is sucky to you in everyday life, step back, take a moment and return their suck with kindness. I didn't say passive aggressiveness. I mean real kindness.

(And now to borrow from my brother a little)

Because kindness has the word kin at it's root, which means related, family. And as humans we are all kin. Not necessarily kin we would choose or that we like, but we are kin.

So help stop the suck a little today.

Now to talk a little on the name challenge from 2 weeks ago. How's that been going? I do pretty well at it but in the hustle bustle of a restaurant last night failed to get any ones name. Boo me. But that's why it's all a challenge.

So keep it going and post in the comments or in the Twitter feed (@retrningdignity) how's the challenge has effected you. And on the Twitter feed you can also watch one of my fave SNL skits that drives home the point of the challenge!

Have a great weekend.

A Different Kind of Poverty

The word, "care" has been on my mind a lot lately. We do most things in our lives in order to get other people to care for us. I could even take it as far as saying we do most things in order to get people to love us. And it can be as simple as just wanting people to like us. Whatever you want to call it, people want other people to pay attention either a little or a lot.

I have been reading some quotes from Mother Teresa. Whatever faith you practice or come from, you have to admit she was amazing. This quote has been rolling around in my head for a few months now,

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."


-Mother Teresa
I agree, it's actually much easier to physically feed someone than it is to feed someones soul. And plenty of people are starving out there.

If we start with the notion that everyone is motivated out of the need to bee wanted, loved, liked or cared for, we really start to see peoples actions in a different light. (Here's where I may step on some toes)


Take plastic surgery for instance. I live, as I've stated before, in Orange County. Plastic surgery is everywhere you look in this county. Most people who are not on board with plastic surgery view it as shallow and vain. Can that assumption be true, sure.


But what if that person is just so lonely that they think the only way to get someone to care for them is to alter their appearance.

I've seen and read stories of women that have undergone so many surgeries that they ended up destroying themselves in order to just be noticed and liked.

Is this an extreme example of how far people will go, yes and no. Plastic surgery is more commonplace these days than ever before.

As human we will do things to get any type of attention, even if it's negative, just to be acknowledged.

So where does this  fit into The Returning Dignity Project? If people will go to such extremes to be cared for, then simple gestures of care can go further than we ever imagined.

Often times, people are so thirsty for love and care that they will drink from a polluted well. I've done it myself.

Our choice everyday is whether we are offering people true care or just more of the same pollution they are used to.


Your challenge this week has been to call someone by name. Have you been doing it? Have you really though about how far that goes with someone who feels unseen, unknown or uncared for?


It can go pretty far.


Look I'm not perfect by any means and I'm not asking any of you to be either. I'm learning as much during this project as all f you are.

The next time judgement comes to your mind about someones appearance or attitude, just remember they may just be asking for you to care.