We’ve been keeping tabs on our Warped Tour Roadies, Nathan and Catherine, as they travel across the country and spread the word about Invisible Children. They’ve met some incredible bands and Invisible Children supporters, and we love hearing their stories.

This week, Catherine reflects on some of the random acts of kindness she’s seen on tour. And from what we can tell, there are plenty of examples to choose from.

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It’s been about two months since I quit my secure job and left my home in safe and sunny Los Angeles to set sail on a tour bus for Warped Tour. I knew little more about what lied ahead than that I was following my dream of touring the country for a cause I love.

Catherine sharing a laugh with us before hitting the road.

Catherine shares a laugh with us before hitting the road.

 

 

Writing from my bunk on the tour bus with less than two weeks left, I can say I still know little of what to expect tomorrow and the day after that. If this tour has taught me anything, it’s that humanity never runs out of surprises.

I worked at Invisible Children’s San Diego office from July to December. I began the internship set in my beliefs and friendships, feeling pretty confident I had an understanding of the world with a college degree in Sociology in my back pocket. The first day I arrived at the Roadie House to join over 40 other interns and roadies, I stood in the back of a spontaneous dance party texting my college friends — I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last.

It took a few months and an emotional roller coaster but those bright eyed, dance party loving world changers broke down my walls — by building me up in ways I didn’t know were possible day after day. I had a roommate who asked me how my day was in the most genuine way every day, coworkers who stayed late just to make sure I didn’t have to drive home alone, and people I barely knew making sure I was happy at all times.

A roadie at the house, Erin Miller started a movement to show people you love them with Random Acts of Kindness, but this seems like a mantra of the Invisible Children staff. Every day working in that office was like a new competition to prove you could make someone’s day better for no reason. There was no winner, just a lot of happy coworkers.

I have discovered that Warped Tour is no stranger to this principal.
When you buy a ticket to Warped Tour, you are buying a day pass to join a community bound together by love for music and love for each other. To Write Love On Her Arms this year has posters that say “People Need Other People,” and I could not agree more. We have donors come up and leave an extra five dollars asking to buy the next customer a bracelet.
There is a truck driver on the tour that will see people looking longingly at the Giving Keys, hand us a twenty to buy their key and walk away expecting no thank you in return, just to make that person’s day a little brighter. One day when I was alone in the tent during a bad storm, worried the tent would blow away, a group of guys came up and each grabbed one pole of the tent to wait out the storm with me.
These anecdotes do not even begin to cover the love we have received from the other non-profits on tour with us. Keep A Breast likes to surprise Nathan and I with free milkshakes from the milk shake truck. Some mornings, Nathan and I walk out to the field to find that To Write Love on Her Arms has already set up our tents for us. Naturally High brings us plates of catering food when they think we need it more than they do.
These small individual acts add up quickly. Working 11 hour days in the hot sun is fun when filled with so many thoughtful surprises. Nathan and I find ourselves overcome with gratitude constantly, which challenges us to provide others with the same feeling.
It turns out that the competition of daily brightening I learned at Invisible Children is not as unique as I thought it was. It exists in communities everywhere — from non-profits to music festivals — and it makes hard work much easier. These random acts of kindness help bond communities. I only wish that I had learned this lesson sooner.
This has potential to be bigger than Invisible Children, and has potential to be bigger than Warped Tour. Seeing as how “our liberty is bound together,” the whole world is our community. Build each other up and pay it forward. It will make everyone’s day a little (or a lot) better.