Love to the Rescue During the Hour of Kindness

Love to the Rescue During the Hour of Kindness in Parliament

The first Hour of Kindness in Parliament took place yesterday, and Charlotte Squire, Editor of New Zealand's good news online magazine, tuned into Parliamentary T.V. to see which Minister of Parliament would demonstrate the qualities of kindness that she challenged the M.P.s to focus on for sixty minutes.

Did they hurl compliments at each other, build praise into their questions and gaze lovingly at each other across the House? Well ... no. However Squire said that it was a fairly low key first hour of question time, and it was a great first year for the Hour of Kindness.

So which party has won the Kindest Party certificate? Squire said the one person who maintained a calm demeanor was The Speaker of the House - Dr Lockwood Smith – National Party M.P.

“Dr Lockwood Smith was calm and attentive, as his role required, and he seemed patient and he certainly smiled quite often during the Hour of Kindness.”

“I'm sure that his efforts made a huge difference to the manner in which Questions in the House is conducted. Well done and my congratulations to him for carrying out an important role with such respect.”

“On Twitter I saw someone commenting that ever since his recent marriage, he's been a happy man. Perhaps it's thanks to his new wife, and to love. The positive effects of his new partnership seem to be rippling through Parliament!”

Squire says the Kindest Party Certificate is on its way to the National Party. She said that she'll be repeating the Hour of Kindness next year and that she hopes to see more M.P.s getting creative about the challenge in future years.

“ There's always room for a little more kindness. I do think we've got some amazing M.Ps here in New Zealand though – from all the parties. And I think we should encourage them to take more holidays and work less hours.”

 
This press release is online with a photo of Dr Lockwood Smith (from the Parliament website) here: http://happyzine.co.nz/2009/9/9/love-to-the-rescue-during-the-hour-of-kindness-in-parliament
 
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