357 | The Amazing Kim Lengling at KKNW 1150AM!

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This is a production of km media dot Pro. Welcome back to positive talk radio. Our goal is simple to explore evolving ideas one conversation at a time. So come on over into our world. I know you'll like it. Because on today's show, today's show we get to feature somebody that's really dynamic. And I'm really looking forward to talking with her. But first of all, it doesn't seem like it's nine o'clock in the morning, Eric, why is it not nine o'clock in the morning? Because you move the show to three o'clock on Monday. Yes. Great to talk to you. I talk to you every Wednesday at three o'clock and then the occasional Friday at noon, but great to have another day that I get to chat with you. Oh, it's it's it's awesome and beautiful day for it too. It is it really is. It's a little cold. But that's that's okay. But looking out the window. It's it's gorgeous. Indeed it is. And for those of you that don't know, Eric, produced the show way back in 2003 for the entire time. And so we spent two hours, two hours a day five days a week together until he got really tired of me. I'm not sure that's exactly what happened. But I have tapes. No, that's it's true. So we are now at three o'clock in the afternoon. On Mondays were four o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesdays and noon on Fridays those didn't change. But I just wanted to move this time because I'm lazy and don't like to get up early in the morning. But you know how that goes. So But Eric, thank you. It's good to be here. It is good to have you here. And and as always, you produced the show, so dang. Well, it's it's awesome. You guys are all professional and I want to make sure that everybody knows that I love Benny too. And that was the only disappointment that I had was that I can't have both of you at the same time. But that would be that would be Hey, I'm not a morning person either. So I totally get it. He gets up at three 330 in the morning. Thankfully we've got somebody that's willing to do that because I'm not well and we got a great show for you today. I was had been looking forward to that she she was on the show a couple of weeks ago and we had such a good time but I wanted to invite her back and Kim is with us there Her last name is Kim lensing leveling, leveling, Kim leveling, leveling menlyn

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Lane Ling Ling Ling Ling

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as in there is there was a wasn't you probably wouldn't know this because I think it was around here. But there was a gorilla named Ling Ling or a panda bear or something? I don't know. I don't know either. Somebody will call him and let me know how many will

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let you know. Exactly. It's great to have you here again. How are ya?

3:06  
I'm doing well trying to keep warm. It's pretty darn cold over here on the East Coast tonight. What do you got? How cold is it? 34 degrees.

3:15  
Oh, wow. You're about five to seven degrees colder than us where we were actually this is kind of cold even though it's sunny outside. It's cool for here.

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We had snow gray skies. Yeah, it's winter decided to say I'm here.

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Now we're about on the East Coast. Are

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you Pennsylvania? Oh, that's

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right. I knew that. I just forgot that. I knew that. Is Pennsylvania and and when does it start snowing there and when does it stop or does it

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this year we've been really lucky because we just had our first real snow on Friday or Saturday. And we we always get snow in October so we had an extra month of it was in the 60s and 70s here clear up until Thursday of last week and then Saturday it just plummeted and we had snow and it was like a little winter wonderland out there with all those really big puffy snowflakes. It was actually beautiful.

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Now does it stay white on the ground from now until springtime or does it come and go

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once we get a real snow it'll stay white until spring sometimes you know mid April.

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What I hate about that is it starts out as white and then it kind of gets gray after a while.

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Yeah, it gets a little Guppy okay. Yeah,

4:39  
it gets dirty. So So I'm glad that you're here. You are an author. You are a podcaster you are a television. When do you have time to do all this stuff?

4:50  
I I keep busy.

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Yes, you do.

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I keep it. You know what the cool thing though is with the television show and my podcast. I i i Like batch record. So I have, I have them done four to six weeks in advance. So I can give myself a little buffer if I need it to, you know, take care of my own stuff. You know, like Kim

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are Oh, come on who needs to take care of your own stuff? Oh, yeah,

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really.

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I mean, I do everything. I do everything live. So if, as an example, I had somebody call in, I was doing a podcast last hour, theoretically. And they called in at one o'clock and said, Oh, you know what? I'm too busy today. So then, you know, that happens.

5:35  
Oh, see. Now, speaking of live, you had mentioned the platform that you use, and I looked into it, and I think I'm gonna give that a try.

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I love I love stream yard. That's, that's the program that I use it because it allows you to do a live and in for, and I would recommend that you pick up the you know, the lesser priced one. And, and then you can you can send it to four different locations. I do believe. And I've got myself all set up. Oh, congratulations.

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I just haven't done it yet. But it's, it's everything's all confirmed. It's all set up. So thanks for giving me that little nudge there. Because that will that expands that expands what I can do. So that's pretty cool.

6:19  
It really does. And one of the things that you'll find is if you hook up to your YouTube channel, it can really broaden your YouTube Base, you know, I have got, there was a couple of younger gals that came on the show all in July. And, and I know this, these numbers don't sound big to some people, but for us poor little independent podcasters. It is and they've been viewed 15,000 times in three months.

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So that's a lot. Yeah,

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yeah. So so and you can, by the way, you can always go to positive talk radio dotnet. And you can also go to your podcast, which is called

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let fear bounce. I just love that

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title that you did, because we're very similar in the types of programming that we like to put on because we're not interested in in talking badly about each other and, and hurting each other we will want to and you've got some things that you do that I need to find out about you as well, because of what you do with with the rocks, and and also the veterans and the things that you do. And by the way, we just had Veterans Day. So I wanted to make a shout out to everybody that is a veteran that served our country so well. And and you've been doing something let's talk about that first, since it's Veterans Day, you've been doing something for a long time for veterans.

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Yes, I'm a I'm a big veteran advocate have been for over 25 years. Now. I'm a veteran, myself, a peacetime veteran. But for the last 22 years, I myself and another lady, through my veteran post here locally where I live for 22 years, we started a program called Project support our troops. And we send care packages every single month of the year. So for 22 years, every month, we're sending out minimum of 50 to a maximum of about 150 boxes per month to active duty men and women that are deployed not stateside, because stateside folks, they have access to what they need. So we ship boxes out to those that are deployed to you know, places unknown lots of times, and most of the time, it's in pretty hot spots around the world. And so it's just sending just a bit of care, and love and prayer in those boxes. And before we pack boxes, you know, it's all done by volunteers. It's all done by donations. And I live in a relatively rural community, and to have been able to do this for 22 years as of as of December 6, because that's our night that we're having our Christmas packing. As of that night, that will be the beginning of our 23rd year sending boxes every month. Everything's always been donated. And except for the postage folks that the United States Postal Service does not give us a break. And we can't send it Ville via military transport, because it's not an essential. So we can't do it that way either. So we do all the postage is done by donations as well. And that's between 812 $100 a month, just postage alone. So but to you know, I'm just sharing that because for 22 years in my rural community, we've been able to do that all by donations. So you know, we are constantly constantly thanking the people in our area for their support. For because we couldn't do it without them, you know. And, and that's our mission. Laurie, her name is Laurie Davis and myself. And we have there have been a few times, especially at Christmas time where we might be literally completely out of stuff. Few years ago, we had 1200 boxes to get out at Christmas. So we're packing three nights in a row. It takes hours to pack that many boxes, just so you know. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And that's a lot of donations of I mean, literally, that's truckloads of donations. So after the first night, we ran out of stuff. And we still have 400 boxes left to pack. Lori and I were We were distraught. Literally, that's the word I'm going to use. We were distraught. And she said, Kim, just get on Facebook, do your thing. Call the newspaper, do your thing. Because I had a monthly article in the newspaper and Facebook, I run our Facebook pages, and she's like, get on there and do your thing, Kim. So I did. And this was late at night, you know, not late, but after eight o'clock in the evening. So I'm thinking, Oh, I hope people even see this, because we start packing at 10 o'clock in the morning. So I did my thing, I did the best I could. And the next morning, we get there early. And we're standing there looking at all of our empty tables. And we both started crying, we we started crying because we put everything we are into it. And we just thought okay, well, we will sit here and write handwrite 400 letters sent because we're sending them something. So that's what we were going to do tonight, we're going to sit there and handwrite letters all day long. We weren't going to type them we're going to handwrite them. And then we heard a car door shut. And we went out looked out the front door and there's a car. Somebody just had got some donations, they brought him some Walmart bags. Then another car came in. And then another car came in, and a pickup truck came. And then another pickup truck came filled with stuff. And we were over, I get all worked up thinking about it because it was so overwhelming. And how everybody just they literally rushed to the store first thing in the morning and just filled the couple people filled up but literally the back of their pickup trucks just filled with Walmart bags, and Dollar General bags and whatever, you know, whatever store they could get to. And it just kept coming. This stuff just kept coming. And we had literally nothing empty tables. And we were able to get out those and we literally squeaked by and got exactly 400 boxes out of the stuff that was brought that morning.

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Holy mackerel, what's in the boxes.

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We ship like snack items, small portable stuff, because they're already carrying a lot of murdy carrying at least 70 pounds. So like trail mix, you know like the lunch size trail mix. Tuna cracker packs and cheese and crackers and hard candy and cookies and Slim Jims and tick tax and a lot we get a lot of requests for sunburst and Skittles. We get a lot of requests for that. So it's just stuff like that, that we send in at Christmas time. We want to make it and we'll send socks because a lot of them they asked for socks, some of them asked for underwear, T shirts, deodorant, dental floss, and then the females, of course, they request feminine hygiene products. So we ship whatever they asked for.

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I'm a little surprised that the United States military doesn't provide service personnel with enough underwear and feminine hygiene products and, and toothpaste and, and and that can't be normal. I assume these people are like, far away and, and are in destinations unknown, and they just can't get to stuff. And is that? I mean, it's it's not because we haven't got it, obviously.

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Right. Some of the places they're in very, very remote locations. Obviously, they're not allowed to tell us but we've been doing this long enough. And a lot of We're all veterans in my post. We can read between the lines and figure stuff out after a while. But obviously, they can't tell us where they're at. But they are a lot of times in very remote locations. And when they get their mail it's AirDrop from a helicopter. Oh, yeah. So it's just a fly by drop, you know, however, whatever they call it, I call it you know, just an airdrop, I guess. So that's a lot of times that's how some of the folks get their mail. And so you know, I don't know why they don't might not have what they need. I know at the beginning when we first started this because we know 22 years. So we were doing this, you know right at the beginning, you know around 911 and all of that and you know the country Free was just filled with patriotism. There literally wasn't enough time for the military, they couldn't keep up with the demand of what was needed over there. So we were actually shipping cases of toilet paper or Wow. And little light travel size pillows, because they weren't allowed to bring anything, it was just like, go. And so we there was a couple ladies one year we had, there was a whole unit, and the entire unit said, you know, gosh, we would love to have a pillow. And we went, Okay, you're gonna have a pillow. So a couple of our ladies, they went out and they bought every single travel size pillow that they could every store in the area. And they came back with 72 Travel pillows. So we, we sent 72 Travel pillows, oh, and they also wanted Sunkist. So in between each pillow, we threw all kinds of Sunkiss candy was like swearing, well, here goes this box pillows and Sunkist you never know what you're going to ask for and what they might need. And so in a lot of them, if they're local here, when they come home on leave, or they've rotated home, they'll come and help us pack boxes. And that's, that's the best part, just when they come home safe and sound, of course, but then they share with us how it was for them. And what it is that they most enjoyed getting in the boxes and how much it meant to them. Because they always share, you know, no one keeps a box to themselves they share. So just the camaraderie, the brotherhood and sisterhood, you know, and when they come home, and they they actually come they go out of their way to come to our town, and pack boxes with us to ship to their buddies that are still over there. You must get lots of hugs, it's it's something else, it really isn't over the years. Oh my goodness, it's just, we could write several books, I could write a series of books on the letters and the emails and the phone calls that we've gotten from the men and women serving their family members. The funerals that we've attended, the memorial services that we've attended, that we've been asked to go, you know, we've been personally invited by the family to please come. And we'd never met them, we just we were sending them boxes, you know, but they talked about us a lot. And it's been a journey, it's been, oh, it's been something else I tell you, Kevin, it really has an eye. blessing after blessing is why it's been even though even though our hearts been broken over and over again. There's still blessings in that too.

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You know, one of the things that I think that we need to come to grips with, and we're going to talk about veterans coming home here in a minute. But one of the things that we need to come to grips with is that because we are now a volunteer force, a lot of our our soldiers and men and women in uniform come from small towns across this country, because they don't have a great deal of opportunity to go do other stuff. And so they they, they join the military, and they go to places that we don't know where they are. And they we don't know how they got there. And and we don't know what they're doing there. And a lot of them are very dangerous places. And we are very lucky to have them being willing to serve. But I don't think that we as a country recognize how impactful and how needed and how how important it is for us to support these men and women while they're there. And then when they come home, and I know you agree with that.

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Oh, I completely agree. And here's the other thing that I think we might take for granted or don't think about or maybe just don't want to think about the average age of the soldier is 19 years

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old. I can't even begin to imagine

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so and that's always been the case, even you know, Vietnam, average age of the soldier. The grunt soldier boots on ground was 19 years old. And that's someone's son or daughter. You know, I looked I remember looking at my daughter when she was 18 and 19. Now, she did not have any interest in going the military. She had none. She wanted to go to college and get a degree. And I was never one to push. Even though I went into the military. I certainly wasn't gonna push her. And you know, it was her choice. But she's not everybody's built for it. I'll put it that way. Not everybody is built mentally, to be in the military. And they would just excel elsewhere. You know, so, but I remember looking at my daughter when she was 1819 and thinking and Now I know how my mom felt when I left for basic training. Because I looked at my daughter and how young how young and gun to say brings, it brings it full circle when I'm the mom, even though she didn't go in the military, I just remember thinking this. And I'm thinking, Oh, my gosh, my mother must have been petrified. And now my niece, she is a lieutenant in the army, and she is currently serving at an undisclosed location. And you know, she's 21. To me, that's, that's like, yeah, there's still kiddos, still close to me. And I think a lot of times, we forget just how young they are. And they're over there doing stuff that we wouldn't, or many couldn't do.

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It's incredible. When you when you think about it, now, my son is in the Air Force. He's in London. He is, oh, he's 30 Now, but he went in late. He went in at 22. I think 23. And that's what that's what he'll tell me is that it's it's kids every everywhere that I mean, they're just children. And it's, it's really a difficult thing for those of us that have all we have a nice car, we have a nice place to live. We are safe and secure in our country. And it's because of these people. That's why we are safe and secure. It always has been that way. And And yet, we don't necessarily do everything within our power to make sure that they're taking care of now and in the future. If they do have a difficult situation. And which they all do. I would imagine if they're especially when they are in a place that is called undisclosed location. Yeah. Yeah. That can that could be that could be anywhere that they are that there's a hot war going on. Indeed. So that makes it it makes it really tough. So one of the other things that you are have done for a very long time, is you've worked with military folks that have PTSD. You've done a television show on a local television, television and radio Ultra. It's a 15 minute radio show once a week. Yeah. And you talk about veterans things and that. I just want to say that it is so cool to meet someone like you because there still are some really cool, dedicated people that live here.

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There is There truly is I mean, I've you know, what, are you a veteran? No, I was I graduated, that said, okay, yes,

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I graduated in 1975. We just finished Vietnam. And nobody, I remember being at the airport, and soldiers coming through, who were coming back from Vietnam, and they got less than a genuinely happy welcome. And people looked at them kind of sideways. So in 75, it was not fashionable to go in the military in any way, shape, or form.

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Well, the thing is they were drafted. Yes. There's a big difference between volunteering and being drafted. Yes, they were drafted and went and did what they could and they did what they had to do. And they did what they were told a lot of people forget that. The post that I'm a member of is called the veterans of the Vietnam War. So all the Vietnam vets have a big old piece of my heart, and I will stand up for them in front of anybody.

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When you know, it's hard to believe it just so hard to believe that the Vietnam War was 50 years ago. I am. So these guys that were 1819 2021 when they were in the field, in a rice paddy, in Vietnam are now in their 70s if they're still with us.

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Yeah. They're 770. And up. Least the guys in my post are and you know, I'm in my mid 50s. And I've been with the post for awhile. I'm a life member, but I've been with them for 25 years. So, you know, I was in my mid 20s When I joined and they called me the kid and it's funny because they still do well, to them I am I'm their you know, their daughter's age, because they're, you know, 20 plus years older than I am. But they are they are my family and they're they're my brothers and we've had each other's backs over the years, you know, watching out for each other and helping each other out as well as helping other veterans out and that's how I got so involved with wanting to be an advocate for those that have PTSD. I live with it. And that was something I didn't talk about for a really long time. I'm talking years, years and years, like 15 years. And then, you know, life has this way of hitting you, sometimes?

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Not really.

25:26  
Yeah. And I felt like I was just getting slammed from every direction. And when that happens, all those walls that you've built so carefully, and kept them shored up and protected so carefully, so nothing would get out. You don't want your darkness you don't want your demons coming out into the light. You know, people look at you and think you're crazy. That's what you think. Most of the times, almost all the time, no one does think you're crazy. You know, they're just like, how can we help? How can we help? But when you're in the midst of that, you know, that mock is what I call it mock. You don't think that that rational thought you don't think that. So? That's how I got the guys in my post Vietnam vets. I was going through such a hard time really, really hard, really hard. And was becoming very ill because of it. Stress is an amazing thing. It can really mess up your body. Just so you know,

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folks. Oh, yeah, we talked about it all the time. Oh, my

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goodness. But it was horrible. And I was very ill. And the guys just came up to me a couple of them. And they said, you know, kid, we don't know what's going on with you, personally, but we know the signs. And if you don't get yourself up to the VA, we're going to drag your bleep bleep up there. And I said, bleep bleep you. I don't need any help. I'm fine. I was you know, I was angry. Actually. You know, I was angry. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Because I looked at myself, like I'm a strong person, I can handle anything. So back off. That was my mental attitude at that time.

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So a few days go by. And well, they did. They drugged me up there. They did. And they had made an appointment for me to sit down and talk with somebody.

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And they took me there and dropped me off. And they said, we'll be back in an hour. And I was not a happy camper. not a happy camper at all. And this was years ago. So back then, there were zero female counselors, and zero programs in place for female veterans. They did not know what to do with me. And I sat down in this office with this gentleman. And he just sat back and he looked at me, and I wasn't saying a word because I was I was pretty angry. I was pretty angry. So I was just sitting there staring at him with my arms crossed, you know? And he said, I'm gonna be honest with you. We have nothing in place for female veterans. We honestly don't know what to do with you. And I went, Well, I appreciate your honesty. And literally, that was all I said. We sat and stared at each other for like, 40 minutes. And then he said, Okay, your time's up, and I got up and left. But, uh, I did go back. And, you know, started to be able to talk to him, but it took a while. But there was nothing in place for female veterans back then. And I was asking all the time, for 12 years, Kevin 12 years. I kept asking, is there going to be something put in place for female veterans? Because they're saying, Well, you can go to this group or that group. And I said, they're all men. They're all men. They have totally different experiences than I did. I'm not going to be the sole female sitting in a man's discussion group. And I know that that you know, but that's all that they had in place at that time, but 12 years, 12 years, I was asking over and over and over again. And finally something you know, finally, they said, Hey, we have a female counselor, if you would like to talk with her, and I'm like, Well, I don't even know now. I've been with Bob for years. But so you know, and then he ended up retiring and stuff, but it's just you know, how that I'm not complaining about the system. I'm just saying that's how it was set up at that time. And still being A female in the military back then back in the 80s. Was that was rare back then was not the norm. It was not. And so when you've got someone that comes home, that's that's had a pretty traumatic experience. They don't know what to do with you. And they didn't, and at least this one gentleman, and I will always appreciate him for that for saying, we don't know what to do with you. We know that you're going to be a different circumstance, we don't know what to do with you. But now they have stuff in place. There's all kinds of programs, and there's more than they are expanding on them, and making them written more readily available. But I've also noticed that there's a lot of female veterans that still stay quiet. I guess I'll put it that way. Of course. And I've been told by several people in the VA, at least in my local area, they're like, well, Kim, you're kind of a trailblazer. Because females don't want to come forward. There's I said, I didn't want to either I was drugged up here was you know, I look back and see how all that path was laid out. It happened just the way it was supposed to, you know,

31:17  
of course, and you are an extraordinary lady. Her name is Kim Ling Ling and and she is an author, she is a podcaster. She's done some great stuff, we're gonna we need to take a quick break. But when we come back, there is something that you do that I have never heard anybody do before. And I am learning the things I'm going to ask you is, where can you buy them? And how much do they cost? I know it's a secret. Because what you do what you do on a daily basis as you walk around your community is nothing short of an angel from heaven. And we're going to talk about that when we come back. So stay with us, everybody. We're gonna take a quick break. You're listening to positive talk radio, right here on KK and w 11:50am.

32:10  
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32:45  
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33:40  
And welcome back to positive talk radio. It's Monday, three o'clock, okay, it's not three o'clock anymore. It's 336 in the afternoon, and this is our new timeslot. We'll be here every Monday at three every Wednesday at 4am every Friday at noon. And I want to mention this because she is such a special lady that when I brought up what it is that she does that I've never heard of before she was looking at me because we can see each other because we're on Zoom, she was looking at me like what could that possibly be? I have no idea what that could be. And because what she does is so unique, and so impactful. That I want you to tell that story. And I want you to tell us how we can go get those and carry them around and to give them out to people. I found some that are that have got a lot of different things, but not the one that has the one and you know what I'm talking about. So, so So Kim, tell us a story about that.

34:40  
At the end of last year, it was around this time last year. The word hope just kept showing up everywhere. In songs that I hear stuff I was reading on the internet, on television on the radio, it was just showing up everywhere. And I mean if you've and I'm sure you know a lot of people We'll see I've been seeing the same number every day, you know, that type of stuff. I have an 11. For me, it's 1111. My mom sees 111 constantly, I see him both will have an 11. And that's her mother's birthday January 11. And since her, her mother died, my grandma, she sees 111 all the time. It's, it's amazing. So it's one of those things where the word hope, was just everywhere. And it was constantly popping in my head hope. And then I realized, okay, this is a nudge, I'm getting a big fat nudge, and I should probably pay attention to it. And so I was like, Alright, what do I do? What do I do with hope? What am I supposed to do with it? And there's so many people going through so much. That's, I hear about it, read about it, see about it, see it all the time. And it seems like that's all I was seeing. And nothing of positive, you know, I'm not that I'm like, you know, every the life is just rainbows and puppies. I know it's not. But it seemed as if to me, it felt as if so many people had lost hope. So once that word started showing up around me, I started paying closer attention. And I was like, Oh, you're right. Okay, what do I do with this? So I thought, well, I'll, I'll start posting stuff on Facebook, or, you know, I'll make these hope affirmations. So I was coming up with all of these ideas, and thinking and thinking and thinking. And then I was like, wait, wait, Kim, you're overthinking this. You're overthinking it. What can you do? That is simple. To give someone some hope. So I got online. And I was like, Well, I was looking for cards that just said hope you know, like business cards. I thought well, then I'll just go to Vistaprint and make my own. Then I was like, No, I don't like how that looks. i That's to me, that's not doesn't have enough heft to it. If you I mean, oh yeah, you can lose a business card, you know that you can lose it so easy. So I kept I got back online. And I was like, just scrolling around on Amazon, honestly. And found the stones. And they're polished stones with the word HK engraved in gold on them. No, not real gold, of course. But I saw those. And I literally sat back in my chair and went, Oh, I'm like, This is it. This is it. So I started while I saw a stone. And it was like you said in a mixed of, you know, Faith, Hope believe Grace has, you know, you get this big pile of stones with all these different words I'm going but I don't want all those different words. I just want hope it took me quite a while but I did find one place I can't think of it off the top of my head, I'd have to look through my emails. But where you can get I think you get a box of 50 a bag of 50 stones and they're good sized stone you know they can fit in the palm of your hand. And you can get in with one word for with hope they're not always available because when I went to go get them again, I couldn't find them then I waited a week and they were there again. So I bought two bags last time they're not they're not really cheap, but it didn't matter to me because the whole point of it was I get these little hope stones, I call them my Nuggets of hope. And I've been saying I need to give I just want to give out nuggets of Hope since last year I've been saying that phrase. And so I found these little stones and now I carry them with me and I you know I always keep two or three in my purse or in my coat pocket I keep a couple in my car in the console in my car and whenever I'm out and about if I feel a nudge towards a person you know if I see someone and I just all of a sudden feel oh oh I think I'm supposed to give them a nugget and I don't question it and I you know I know where I feel that and I just coming for as a Christian I feel that not just coming from God that's just my belief. So however you're not just come to you out there listening, but I feel that nudge and I have to make sure that I don't that so they don't feel like I'm stalking them

39:41  
Yeah, it's that's Christian stalker from Pensacola. Christian

39:45  
creeper. But you know, I'll get and it's always just come so quick. It'll be like that's the person and I'm always startled actually by this because I literally feel so strongly. Oh, that's The person. And so I will approach this stranger. And I will just hold up my hand with the stone and say, I feel very strongly led to give you a nugget of hope today. And without fail, they've always opened up their hand and I just gently place it in their hand and they say, I hope you have a blessed day. And then I turn and walk away. Because I'm not feeling nudge to talk to them, or to ask questions. I'm literally just supposed to give them this little nugget of hope. And they, they look down at it and see that it has the word hope on them. They're actually really pretty stones. I've gotten smiles I've gotten laughs I've gotten one guy did look at me, like, who are you? And what are you on? So and that's okay, too, because he might have been the one who needed it the most. You know, I've had, I've had a couple of people now start to cry, and no words are exchanged. They just say thank you, some get real quiet. And kind of whisper Thank you. And their eyes are getting all teared up. And I just I always just say very gently, I hope you have a blessed day. And then I just turn and walk towards my car. And that's, that's what I do. That's my little nugget of Hope mission. So, you know, I've been saying for a year before even ever found these little stones, I just want to toss nuggets of hope out there like confetti, because the world needs more of it. And so this is my way of doing it, I found these little stones, and I'm gonna just keep on doing it. You know, and it's, I don't care how much they cost, I think I don't think that there's that you can't put a price tag on hope and providing to provide somebody that might be feeling hopeless. And then now they have because you know, a lot of people carry stones like this in their worry stones, you know, there's worry stones? Well, sure, sure. My grandpa used to carry one. And he always, you know, was fiddling with it. And these are the perfect size to do that. They're almost like they're perfect size, like a worried stone, but only it says hope on it. So you're you know, if you're rubbing on it one of those people and you know, you're, you're fiddling with it with your hands and stuff throughout the day. Just remember that as you're doing that. You're just you got your hands on hope. Just think about it. You got your hand, you got hope right in your hands, what are you gonna do with it? You know?

42:37  
No, I gotta ask you. Because there are people, and there are a lot of people out there that are good people and have a really good heart. And we talk a lot about this on the show of just smiling someone just being kind and smiling. And because that may be, you know, I was a bus driver for 12 years, and a lot of times, I was the only person to smile at them all day long. Yeah. And, and so it's important that we do that, but I got to ask you, because you feel like you are driven to do this and for humanity and to change how people are thinking from, from hate division and fear and, and, and to hope it's awesome. Why do you How does that How did that come about?

43:28  
Well, you know, I was asking myself that too, because I strongly feel it's a nudge from God. That's, that's my belief. And I agree with you. I did say why me? But you don't ever ask him that because well, first off, you might not get an answer. But then the answer also might be, why not you? And that? That seems like that's the answer I received was why not? You? I've been I've been than you may have been to. And I know for a fact many out there listening have been? I've been in that dark place. Yes. I've been in that spot where you feel so alone, where you feel like there is no hope. Then you wonder why you're still even here. You wonder what's the point? I've been there and I'm honest enough to admit that. There's a lot of people out there but for years I didn't. I slap that smile on my face. And I was out there that strong, bubbly person that everybody thinks I am all the time. But I wasn't always like that. You know and people don't know, people don't know what people are going through behind the mask that they wear each day. And I have found that the further I get into this journey of mine, my life journey here. I am able and I'm ridiculously empathetic read Dickie lessly empathetic, I am able to see behind the mask that people wear, and it makes them very uncomfortable. So why not me? I've been there. I've been in that dark hole, that that's so lonely and awful. And you feel like you can't crawl your way out. And there's a lot of people that have been and that are right now. Maybe it's somebody listening right now.

45:33  
Oh, you can you can, you can bet your bottom dollar because there's somebody that's listening that needs to hear this message.

45:40  
i Yes, I firmly believe that. I can

45:43  
guarantee guarantee. But I will tell you this, Kim. And that, and I know this to be from my perspective, I know this to be true. You grew up the person that you were, you've gone through some tough times, you've had some difficult experiences, you've come out the other side, you are a remarkable person. And you could not be the person that you are had you not had those experiences in the past. And so you are now living, I kind of call it living the dream. Because you are you're doing what you know, to be right. And you're doing everything and think about all the things that you're doing that we've talked about just in the last 30 minutes here of the of the gift boxes and healing yourself and in the rocks and then taking care of it. And you are also very emotional about this. And it means I can tell that it means to you like nothing else. This is it. This is what you're going to be.

46:46  
Yes. Yes, it took me a long time.

46:50  
But But and with your podcasts and with the television show with the radio show, and with the rocks, and with the the nonprofit, and all of those things that you're doing, you are changing the world one person at a time. And that I can't. That is why we are all here. That is why I wanted you to come on this program. Because that quite literally is in my humble opinion. That's why we are all here to support each other, to care for each other. And to help each other get through this thing that can be messy and icky and awful that we call life. And because at the end of the day, it can be a friggin wonderful experience.

47:35  
preach, preach.

47:40  
Alright, sorry. I'll get off my soapbox.

47:43  
Now. No, I couldn't agree more. I agree. Indeed I concur. All those words.

47:52  
You need to put those on the rock I concur. But it is it is remarkable because you you up, lift my soul just talking to you. And I am the luckiest guy in the world that I get to have the opportunity to talk to you on because you're doing something. I like to think that we're both doing something special. But you're doing something over and above that aisle being special.

48:21  
Now see, here's the thing, you get yourself some hope nuggets. And I'm on the East Coast, you're on the West Coast. We got it covered, man.

48:33  
My problem is I have to leave my friggin house.

48:38  
Yes, actually, you do to physically give these away? Yes, you have to leave your house.

48:46  
But and because of your your community that you're in, but I will tell you this is that I believe that one of the reasons that you are doing what you're doing is that the concept of community has gone away. Now you are living in Pennsylvania. And it's a small rural town where everybody knows everybody's name. And and everybody's story and all of that. When you're in a big, big plays like this. I was in Chem I was in the cul de sac for 20 years. And I didn't know the last name of anybody that was in the cul de sac with me.

49:20  
No, no, I yeah, I get that. Yes, yes, that would it does make a difference. But it does make a difference. Yes. If that makes

49:33  
no

49:34  
difference where you're at, but you never know. It does make a difference. It doesn't need just go out and start chucking some nuggets.

49:47  
Exactly. Now, if somebody wants to listen to your podcast, how do they do it?

49:52  
Yeah, the easiest way to find out all the stuff that I'm doing and to get in contact with me if you want is on my website and that is just my name. It's Kim Ling Ling. author.com. So it's KIMLENG l i n g author.com. And you can listen to podcast episodes on there and check out everything that's going on in my my little room.

50:16  
You've got books, you you're an author, and you've done all of that. And you're not anywhere near done yet.

50:23  
Oh, No way, man, I'm gonna keep on rolling. Whenever I get those little nudges with little more little ideas. I'll be like, you know, questioning it. And then of course, I'll do it anyway.

50:34  
Well, you have to, you have to there's an old saying, that was in a in an old movie, it was called Braveheart. And my it's one of my favorite sayings of all time, which is, your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it. And

50:51  
that's powerful stuff right there. Yes, then you have me saying just go out and chuck some nuggets.

51:02  
Chicken Nuggets with me. I used to do that at McDonald's one time.

51:07  
Oh, goodness.

51:09  
But, Kim, I want to give you the opportunity. We've just got a few minutes left. And I want to give you as much time as you need. As much time as you want to take, I would like you to tell the audience that's listening now that the listening in the podcast later, anything that you would like them to know.

51:26  
Now, the holiday with the holidays come in. And Thanksgiving is literally just right around the corner. check on your neighbors, check on your neighbors, check on your loved ones. Because there's a lot of people that are struggling now. And they're not going to let you know. Because like we were talking about earlier, you go into your little funks. And I'm sorry, my dog is knocking all my stuff over right now. He wants attention. Yes, he does. The holidays are not easy for a lot of people. And I'm one of those people. The Holidays aren't aren't fun for me, just are not fun. So I have to I've learned over the years what I need to do to keep myself busy and healthy. And that surround yourself with, you know, supportive people. volunteer, get out and do something for someone else. Do something for someone else makes such a huge difference. It truly does. And I know I know how hard it is to make yourself leave the house. I know that. Kick your own self in the butt and make you do it. Make yourself do it. Even if it's just one thing. One thing that you do, I found that that's so helpful for me. But if you're not in that dark spot, watch, watch for those who are. Please take them a cup of coffee. Give them a phone call, send somebody a text offer to take someone to lunch or hey, let's go to brunch on a Sunday. You know, something like that? The elderly folks, the ones that can't leave home, do you have a neighbor like that, go knock on the door, tick over a cup of cookies and a cup of coffee. Anything like that doesn't cost you anything to be kind. So let's try and be a little kinder this holiday season and let your heart open up a little bit even though it might feel closed and dark. Let it crack open a little bit because there is a lot of goodness out there folks. There really is. You might not feel it. You might not see it. But it's still out there. It's just waiting on you.

53:51  
I wish I'd have said that was just remarkable. And and you're right. I live in a 55 plus community. It's a mobile home park. There are neighbors who I've never seen. I don't know that they've ever left their house since I've been here. Wow. And it makes it it makes it really hard for them.

54:12  
Yeah. You know, get some cookie. Well, maybe not cookies, nobody trusts anybody anymore. Get some candy canes or something like you'll have bags of candy. Just you know, hey, just stop value say hi. And I hope you have a wonderful day. You know anything, you can get creative with it. But you know, and you never know what it's gonna do for you.

54:34  
It's always gonna do more for you than it does for them. It always will.

54:38  
Yeah, yeah. You can. It's not easy. I mean, I I'm sure you've been there too. Kevin. It's not easy to put yourself out there some days. It's just not

54:48  
that that's that's real true. There are some days when I didn't want people to get on my bus 30 or 40 or 50 people on my bus and what I discovered was that the energy that I brought to That task made the difference if I bought positive energy, it was a positive bus. If I bought negative energy, it was a crappy bus.

55:08  
Yes. What you give out comes back in spades. Yes,

55:14  
by the way, go to Kim Ling Ling got author.com Right?

55:20  
Yes, Kim lang author.com.

55:22  
I gotta go. I wish I didn't, but I gotta go. So, Kim, I want to thank you so much for being here. Go to positive talk radio.net You'll be able to listen to this in its entirety in a couple of days and thank you so much for being here. And by the way, everybody remember, be kind to one another because each other's all we've got