How can we teach girls to be kinder to each other? We see a lot of movies and television shows and ads about the importance of being thin and looking young and smelling good and making money and being quippy and snarky and fast with put-downs and winning by vanquishing everyone around you but we don’t get many positive images of the simplest and perhaps the most powerful quality that is available to everyone: the quality of kindness.

Last September, Lauren Parsekian and Molly Stroud began a month and a half long journey across the country in a Kind Campaign decorated minivan donated by Toyota. They traveled over 10,000 miles collecting stories from hundreds of girls and women all over America. That is the basis for a documentary and a campaign to help girls and women learn to be kind.

You can take the pledge of kindness, share your stories and even your apologies

As one woman says in the movie, we may not all be beautiful, we may not all be smart, we may not all be talented, but we can all be kind. I’ve made the pledge. Will you?