Light is what we make it

Volunteer placing stickers up outside Columbia University. (Image courtesy of author)

Spreading happiness through joyful shared moments is something I’ve long championed with brands I work with as part of a holistic approach to care. It’s become abundantly clear amid the horrific reality affecting people at this moment that the world needs more of this light to help bridge the divides and all commonly share beautiful, inspiring moments.

It all started in preparation for Hanukkah and the holiday season when I launched “LittleLight Production”, a kindness and positivity organization committed to care. I invited some “better than me” talent and friends to think about things that could fill people in Manhattan with a safe space for compassion during this tumultuous time.

The core of our first campaign landed inherently guerrilla style, where a small group of volunteers have been canvassing the streets with bright and inspiring stickers where hostage posters have been torn down for the past week from Columbia University to Battery Park.

These stickers encourage passers-by to reflect on the message “A little light can go a long way,” serving as a refresher to lead with empathy and be bold enough to strive for co-existence, too.

(Image courtesy of author)

We continue to spread those glimmers of light through a sticker in a way that resonates with anyone who accepts or needs it, especially during this unimaginable time.

Just picture the scene: you’re strolling through the city parks on the Upper West Side in the cold, early winter sunshine, when crossing the street, you suddenly spot a set of bold-blue stickers, even eight inches tall, layered incongruously at eye level. Could it be related to what remains of the kidnapped poster behind them? Though the desecrated posters alone sit as an afterthought to many who today pass them, you’re compelled to go over and try to figure out what it is. And as you draw closer you notice the same message repeated, manifesting everywhere posters beside the one you noticed first lay.

And your day suddenly and unexpectedly feels a bit warmer.

Taking it to the streets (from where I just might have already peeled and prepared some eight stickers on my fingers as I walk towards the next set of torn down posters), I have been soaking in people’s curiosity turned to delight as I approach each scene one sticker at a time.

It’s been a wonderful, powerful, and humbling experience to be involved in something designed to generate so much empathy.

A link on each sticker to www.messageinasticker.co invites a deeper conversation and consideration for people to think about what seeking a better world means to them.

And our LittleLight production isn’t just confined to our group anymore. On Hannukah we decided to add a module on the site where online visitors could request stickers sent to their homes too.

As we build community, I am simply thankful we can do our part to light up this moment by refreshing our most basic motherly and fatherly instincts and encourage co-existence.

So our thoughts are with the behaviors that have led to taking down posters of kidnapped people during a live hostage situation or tuning out the well-being of a child in Gaza.

This is what LittleLight is all about – inspirational energy and flipping awareness to what we want it to be.

If you want to amplify your own light with some stickers, I hope you’ll join us by requesting some from this link. Remind us that light and love can pop up in the most unlikely places.