Editorial: In time of anger, another show of kindness

Perhaps you can consider this editorial an addendum to a message we expressed two months ago when, following announcements of the Daily Herald's All-Area Academic and Athletic teams of standout high school students, we said these kids "are more than the numbers that we sometimes use to distinguish them." We pointed out that the activities we honored weren't limited to the students we singled out for recognition.

Now comes a notable case in point - 17-year-old Anuva Shandilya's "Chance for Sports" charity, profiled in a Daily Herald story Tuesday by Marie Wilson.

A Denmark-born world traveler who has lived in England and Canada before her family settled in Naperville, Anuva recognizes the privileges life has afforded her. Indeed, she recognized them at an early age. She founded her charity as a freshman at Neuqua Valley High School.

"There are so many kids who don't have the same opportunities as me," Anuva told Wilson.

Now, she, her younger brother Daksh and six other students from Neuqua, Waubonsie Valley and Metea high schools go door-to-door twice a week throughout the summer soliciting donations of used sports equipment. They collect around 450 items a week, then research and contact children's aid groups in the suburbs and around the world where kids might appreciate receiving the items they collect. This Saturday, they'll host a fundraiser featuring relay races, soccer games, a volleyball tournament, raffles, food and music.

What are you doing with your summer?

Anuva and Daksh's work brings to mind yet another young altruist we've highlighted recently. Just a week and a half ago, scores of suburban residents of all ages cut out panels from the Daily Herald and passed them out as they did good deeds in memory of Laura Szejka Zimmer, an Arlington Heights woman very few of them knew personally. Laura's life and works were recounted in Daily Herald news stories and commentary highlighting the ­#ALittleBitOfLaura twitter campaign, created by her family to spread the message of generosity and positive energy that were her legacy.

We live in a time of rancor and negativity, anger and divisiveness. Our politics all too often are defined by shouting and insults and condescension. Our social media feeds are crammed with condemnations. The dominant civil rights stories of the day involve whether we should show compassion to refugees at our borders or whether people ought to be allowed to make plastic automatic weapons on their 3-D printers. In such an atmosphere, it is oh-so-easy to lose faith in ourselves, to fall sway to the notion that we are losing title to our humanity.

And then we learn of the kids on our academic and leadership teams, of the Laura Szejka Zimmers, of the Anuva and Daksh Shandilyas and of so many thousands of others who work quietly and earnestly with nothing more in mind than nudging their world to become a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more loving. Of course, we thank them for their works. We also thank them for their example.