Mikayla Ansley could hardly believe it when she won. The 12-year-old girl from Blyth, Ont. has won a Lions International essay competition on kindness.
Her essay, called Kindness Matters, captured top prize in the age 11-13 category.
Mikayla knows about kindness. She was born with retinoblastoma, which is essentially eye cancer. She has no vision in her left eye, and limited vision in her right eye.
She drew on the kindness of her community for her essay.
It's a community that raised thousands of dollars and offered ongoing support to her and her family over the years.
Mikayla accepts her top essay prize in New York City in March. It comes with a $5,000 prize.
Here is the award-winning essay:
Kindness Matters by Mikayla Ansley
Kindness is a simple but powerful thing. It can be as small as a smile or a wave, or as big as sponsoring a child. Even if you don’t realize that you are doing it, that can still make someone’s day. Kindness matters more than you think.
My name is Mikayla and I have been legally blind since the age of two. I had a rare cancer called bilateral retinoblastomoa, which is a cancer that affects both of the eyes. Because of that cancer I had to lose my left eye and lost most of my vision in my right eye. It was this tragedy that taught me the lifeline of kindness. How to be thankful for what I have instead of wanting more. During my cancer journey, my parents had to quit their jobs and be at the hospital with me all the time. I’m so thankful to all the people who held our hands through it all, by donating toys, blankets and money so that this family could stay on our feet.
It is because of that experience I am on a mission to change the world with kindness, by helping others through their dark times like they helped me through my cancer. In the past, I have written a letter to the minister of Australia in hopes I would change his decision of not allowing the refugees in to his country. Taking their sanitation, food and water away from the refugee camps so that they would leave his country is intolerable. Hopefully my letter was the smallest bit of a difference, people like that need to change. Also I organized a fundraiser at my school, to buy teddy bears for the orphan and abandoned children in Haiti. Because I believe every child deserves something to hold on to and love.
I know that the world needs more of that kindness, to live in peace and friendship, without war or abuse. For everyone to believe they are truly safe and happy. Sometimes life can be tough and you might feel like the whole world is against you, believe me as a stubborn legally blind girl it has happened more than once. If you just keep being kind to one another, it can make yours and everyone’s world brighter. If the whole world was filled with smiles and laughter, everything would be great. One day everyone will believe in their hearts, that kindness really truly matters.
