There’s nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book.
                                                   Betty MacDonald
“This is my corner,” Kim Kabrich, an interventionist, said as she showed me her office. It was literally a corner, constructed with partial walls to create a space for Kim. Once you sit down, you forget that it’s a corner because Kim created a warm place to plan and have conversations with colleagues. It’s easy to get lost in deep conversation, until your train of thought is broken by voices on the other side of the wall.
Because of the partial walls and the fact that Kim’s office is in the heart of the building, just off the media center, it’s easy to catch conversations from others. The voices are close, and the conversation is meant to be private. Kim reaches for some candy out of the dish in the center of her table and announces, “Incoming!” and then tosses the candy over the wall.
There are giggles and Kim adds, “Hope you have a sweet day.”
“Thanks!” comes over the wall and we don’t hear any more of the conversation.
I smile at Kim. “Now there’s a tactic to avoid negativity—bombard people with candy!”
Kim laughed. “After school has ended for the day, you wouldn’t believe the things I hear. Some heartwarming stories of a caring student and some frustrating words from another. So I decided to toss candy, as an easy way to remind people that we need to have fun and keep positive.”
It’s not always easy to take a stand against negativity, but I like Kim’s approach. It makes me wonder how else we can take “sweet” stances against toxic conversations in our corners of the world. Perhaps candy bombs are just the beginning. Maybe they are also a great use of all the leftover sweets from Halloween many of us will face next week.