July 17, 2025 • 34 mins
A chance connection on social media led to one of the most heartwarming conversations in Kindness Matters history. Philip Parker, creator of multiple podcasts including "Unscripted Perspective" and "Untouched Melodies," joins Mike Rathbun to explore how kindness functions as both a personal healing force and a powerful tool for positive change.
The conversation takes a particularly moving turn when Philip shares the origin story of "Rory Stories" – a podcast born from his four-year-old son's concern that his friends weren't getting bedtime stories. What began as a simple father-son project has evolved into a partnership with United Way, supporting both independent authors and children in need. It's a beautiful example of how even the smallest acts of kindness can create unexpected ripple effects.
Despite navigating personal challenges including a recent separation, Philip maintains a commitment to kindness that shines through in his parenting philosophy. "I don't want to raise people that are not kind," he explains, sharing touching examples of how his children naturally absorb and reflect the kindness they witness. His guiding principle, borrowed from both Ted Lasso and Walt Whitman – "Be curious, not judgmental" – offers listeners a practical approach to navigating difficult interactions with grace.
The episode weaves through discussions of modern media, the evolution of music platforms, and the importance of basic human connection in an increasingly digital world. Philip's infectious enthusiasm for creating content that uplifts others serves as a powerful reminder that while we cannot control global events, we can control our own actions – we can "lead with kindness."
Whether you're seeking inspiration for your own creative endeavors, looking for practical kindness strategies, or simply need a reminder that goodness still exists in the world, this conversation delivers with authenticity and heart. Subscribe to Kindness Matters for weekly doses of positivity and join our community on social media to share your own kindness stories.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizations,that are simply striving to
make their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
(00:42):
Check us out.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the Kindness Matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the showeverybody.
I am your host, mike Rathbun,and, in case you missed it, from
the intro, you're listening tothe Kindness Matters podcast.
(01:04):
From the intro, you'relistening to the Kindness
Matters podcast.
I am so happy that you made aconscious choice to spend 30
minutes of your day listening tothis podcast, and I appreciate
it.
I thank you.
You know what I appreciate itmore If you told your friends
and neighbors what anoutstanding podcast this is, and
you know what I'm not beneathit, I'll lie.
(01:25):
If you want to lie about it andsay it's the best podcast you
ever heard, I'm okay with that.
No, I'm just kidding, don't dothat.
I have got such a fantasticshow for you today.
A lot of my guests on thispodcast tend to be presidents,
(01:50):
directors, life coaches, ceos orheads of non-profits that kind
of thing.
But my guest today is such arefreshing change from all of
that.
He is a fellow podcaster andworks with Unscripted
(02:16):
Productions.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You got it.
Don't lose the yes, I did.
Yes, I did.
Don't lose the confidence.
You have all the script, don'tworry, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And it just went down the toilet.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Welcome to the show Philip Parker.
Thank you for having me, Mike.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere.
What you do is awesome, so I'mexcited to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I really appreciate that, philip, I mean, and a lot
of my guests.
They are usually coming atkindness from one side or the
other right.
They're either receiving it orthey're giving it.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You are actively trying to do both.
Yes, yes, yes, it's been ajourney.
I'm not gonna lie to you, um,because that would be rude, um,
but it's, it's very, it's, it'svery refreshing to find that
(03:17):
humanity is not lost.
And, um, over the last four orfive years of my life, I've been
graced with kindness, and itjust continues.
And I think it's who yousurround yourself with and who
you allow yourself to be around,I guess is the best way to put
that.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, the last four or five years of all of our
lives have been a little weird,haven't they?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, a little turbulent.
You know we won't mention why,because it never stops being
talked about.
But you know it's one of thosethings.
We got through it as a nation,as the world, and we learned a
little bit about ourselves fromit, I think.
So that's always fun.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's always fun.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
As a matter of fact, I learned how to podcast during
that time right, right, that'skind of where I started, okay
maybe I did, maybe I didn't.
The audience will be the judgeof that.
Really, do you think you did,mike?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, I think so you know what we, we, uh, we.
There's always, there's alwaysa learning curve, but I think
your shows are very enlighteningand it's something different to
highlight a specific trait inhuman.
I guess culture and kindness issomething that we don't focus
(04:42):
on enough.
You know, it's as simple asholding a door.
I mean, that's called generallymanners.
But you know, I think we'vejust forgotten our social
abilities and kindness is,believe it or not, a social
ability.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, and you brought up something when you were
first talking about how showingthe world that there are still
kind people out there or rightright, right because they are,
and I think we forget thatsometimes yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
You see you, I think, um, social media, um, general
media, um, unfortunately justpaints a very dire picture for
everyone, where it's likeapocalypse now and oh my gosh,
don't go outside, and people areevil and all this kind of stuff
.
And reality is is that, um,it's as simple as you know.
(05:34):
You don't have to be religious.
But, like um, I had um mormonscome to my door and I let them
in.
I had a conversation with them.
They're just generally nicepeople.
You don't have to slam a dooron somebody.
You can be courteous, you canbe polite.
They're just out doing theirfaith thing.
Everyone is entitled to it, butI think people just forget all
(05:57):
that stuff.
It's just social interactionhas been a forgotten skill and
I've been lucky and fortunateenough.
Um, in the beginning of all ofthis, during covid um, I had my
neighbor, um, put me up with my,with my, with my ex-wife now,
but, um, and my uh, young son,and you know it's, it's things
(06:21):
like that.
You know it's, it's, it's allof these things, um, as they
collectively come together.
Now somebody is going to besitting around a table right now
listening to this podcast andthey're going to be like man,
why don't I see any kindness andit's like you know what.
I hate to call it out, but youget what you give a lot of times
in life and, um, you know, Itry and push into the ethos that
(06:46):
I am a good person.
Unfortunately, I have myfailings, like all of us.
Nobody's perfect.
But you know, that's why thepodcasting became a thing for me
.
I started the UnscriptedPerspective initially and it was
just learning about differentperspectives, uh, people's
unique traits, like I would havehad you on, uh, just to learn
(07:08):
about.
Why did you start the kindnesspodcast, like what you know,
that kind of stuff, justhighlighting people's uniques,
uniqueness and and all of that,and it just kind of spurred on
from there.
I did a music podcast and, um,you know, we're going to talk
about rory stories as well.
And then, um, um, I think thebiggest, the biggest one for me
recently was, um, my mentalhealth podcast.
(07:32):
You know, um, and that's, andthat's really the thing that I
focused on recently, justbecause mental health is such a
huge thing and, as you aptly put, you can put a post on Facebook
and have thousands of lifecoaches and people that want to
help you mentally.
So I said, well, you know, ifthere's an abundance of people
out there that want to help, Iwant to be the tool, I guess, to
(07:55):
allow that to happen.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, so okay.
So your podcast, the UnscriptedPerspective, is one, yes, yes.
You were talking about music.
You started another one calledUntouched Melodies.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
That's correct.
Yeah, that's a live.
So I've kind of moved fromaudio to live streaming just to
kind of get the interaction ofthe audience.
It's a little bit more fun.
I dare to be different, much tomy chagrin in the beginning,
because things crash andcomputers fall, fall apart and
(08:31):
streams just die and stuff.
But, um, you know, we figuredit out and um, I think it just
adds to the authenticity of a,of a chat.
Like I don't do a scripted chatat all, it's just not, it's not
part of I.
I feel like the most enjoyablepodcasts I've listened to have
not been scripted.
So I think that's just kind ofhow I I go with that so
(08:53):
untouched melodies.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Now, that was showcasing what just into.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, yeah, essentially, I went on spotify
one day and there's a bunch ofmusicians that I was like what,
why are they only like at athousand followers or 50, 50
followers or listeners orwhatever?
And so I reached out and, um, II got them to come on the
podcast and then it just kind ofspurred from there.
Um, they told their friends,their artists and all that, and
(09:20):
it just kept kept going.
Um, you know, I had musicianson, uh, the unscripted
perspective as well, but I thinkum, kind of really just
focusing on one topic allows myaudience and listeners to kind
of just really separate the thestuff, what they want to listen
to, I guess, um from from what'sout there, because you know, as
(09:42):
you said, you I've had lifecoaches, I've had paranormal
investigators, I've got all thisstuff and some people just
aren't interested in that.
So it allows people to justkind of really focus in on what
they want to listen to.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, well, and that's kind of.
I mean, you're basicallyhelping them to get a wider
audience, and that seems darnkind to me.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, yeah, that seems darn kind to me.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Well, yeah, I mean yeah, you could say that.
Yeah, because, yeah, you thinkabout the artists.
You see all the artists, right,but you're only seeing the ones
, or hearing the ones, that showup on your radio.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, that's kind of old-fashioned, but you know,
Well yeah, no, you're right.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You're right.
I mean, let's call it what itis um, you can be an artist now
by just having a youtube account.
So I think, um, it's really,it's really, um, I guess,
important when you find thattalent.
You know, it's not justamerican idol and agt and all
these other talent shows.
Um, there are some really greatartists out there that haven't
(10:45):
been discovered, and so I'm notgoing to pretend that I'm this
amazing guy that can find greatmusic, but I enjoy meeting
people.
I think podcasting is a greatmedium for that, and if they get
one or two followers out of myshow, it's a win for them,
because they've grown theiraudience and you know, they use
(11:10):
all of the clips and stuff thatI make.
They can use it for promotionand they have done.
In fact, there's one where I'mnot I wouldn't say I'm not happy
, but it's just, it's it'schopped up and kind of remixed
and I have a really weirdlooking face in there.
But hey, I allow it, it's allfun.
Um, it's incredibly enough.
(11:33):
Rory um loved one of the tracksthat got a Grammy um, uh,
grammy nomination, and he heloved it so much.
He was dancing around the thekitchen and I filmed him dancing
around the kitchen singing thesong and that was a tiktok post.
Um, they asked if I could, ifthey could use it, and it went
(11:55):
viral on tiktok.
So his claim to fame began alittle earlier than I
anticipated.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
yeah, wow, no kidding , yeah, I never expected my son
to go viral at three, four orearlier than I anticipated.
Yeah, wow, no kidding.
Yeah, I never expected my sonto go viral at three, four,
whatever the case may be.
Right, yeah, and you do.
I see so many artists on TikTokand they're just like you know,
like share.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, that you do.
Yeah, it's a different worldout there now.
It's very different.
Now it's like you I waswatching a ray the other day, a
great movie, if anyone hasn'tseen it but like like back in
the back in the old days, likeit was about getting airplay and
getting on the radio and stuff.
Now it's about tiktok,followers and and all this kind
(12:44):
of stuff.
So it's, it's, it's a different, it's a different world.
And while, yes, spotify haschanged the, the dynamic and
people, some would argue thatthey've, you know, um, ruined
the, the ethos a little bitbecause of how easily accessed
and how much they, how littlethey pay or whatever, but the
(13:05):
reality is is they've actuallybroken down the barriers as well
.
So, like, I actually havewritten and produced music and
put it on Spotify and it's, it'sa great, it's a great medium
and I believe that you, you know, with ai now being a huge thing
, um, you're just going to seemore and more.
Like you don't have to evensing anymore.
(13:27):
You can, you can go in and makeyour voice sound like whoever
you want write a song andthey'll do it for you.
It's, it's just crazy.
It's, you know, it's out of ascience fiction movie.
It's crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Oh my gosh yeah, I mean back to Ray for a second.
That was, you had 100 copies ofyour song on reel-to-reel
probably.
Yeah, yes, exactly Round toradio stations all over the
country just saying please givethis a listen.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
It became a little easier because you'd do cassette
tapes, but that was very muchthe same the thing back then.
That was how you got noticed,how you got on the air, how you
got played.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, you'd go in and you'd have a chat with the DJ
and stuff.
It wasn't like you could justphone it in as they do now and
stuff it was.
It was, it wasn't like youcould just phone it in as they
do now, but like you, literally,you literally had to go in and
and and almost sing live a lotof the time in certain aspects.
So, yeah, look, music hasevolved in such a great way and,
you know, um, in in 10 or 15years, something else is going
(14:37):
to happen and then they're goingto be whining that that
happened and it's just change isnot easy to embrace for some
people.
But talent is never really it's.
You can't ignore talent.
No, you know, if you couldn'twrite a song, your song wouldn't
make it on the radio.
Your song wouldn't get noticed.
(14:59):
If you couldn't sing, it usedto be that you wouldn't get
noticed, but now, if you canwrite an amazing song, put it
through ai and, and all of asudden your song is, is content.
So I think it's something, it'ssomething good.
Um, you know, uh, I actuallywas chatting with um, some more
um, I would say visitors, butthey're, you know, like
(15:22):
religious, religious visitorslet's call them that, okay and
um and um, I was telling themthat hey, you should probably
like make some stuff, and theyhad me write some, uh, um kind
of music, um, faith music, andit was great it was.
It was a really differentexperience, but also it just
shows that you can do anythingif you put your mind to it, and
(15:45):
so we've really gone off ontothe say that again yeah, we're
out in the weeds now, but it'sfine, you wrote them jingles or
what no actual songs.
They were legitimate songs.
So, for those not trying toplug anything but, um, there's a
lot of ai apps and um, um, I uhconnected with timbaland on his
(16:11):
instagram and we like we're notlike friends or anything, but
like it's.
He was doing a live stream andI was going, hey, what's this
Suno thing?
And he was telling hisfollowers all about it and he
just pushed that, hey, it's agreat tool, you should try it
out.
And so I did, and it'sincredible.
You pump in your own vocals.
(16:31):
If you want, you can toy withyour own vocals.
You can make it sound howeveryou wish.
You can put in what you want itto sound like, and you might
take 15, 15 times, likegenerating all the audio, but
you can clip it and and reallyedit it, and that's where the
fun is.
You make something amazing andyou're just like, oh my god, I
can't believe I did that.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
It's just crazy so it's like you lay down the
vocals, then you go.
What this part needs is horns.
You lay in some horn exactly,exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
So, yeah, it is, it's fun, it's fun, definitely fun
uh, okay, so let's.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You mentioned your son, rory, and this is one of
the the nicest stories I thinkI've ever heard, ever, ever, and
it yes it goes to how you areand how you're raising your kid
too, I think I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know, um rory is um rory's my little boy and uh,
at four years of age he came tome during covid um, and it was
in ireland at the time we'reactually in ireland for covid
because I was trying to takecare of my parents and and kind
of get them through a tough time.
Um and um, he came home from umI guess they call it preschool
(17:42):
here, play school over there,whatever it is and he was kind
of upset.
He was just like, ah, you know,my friends don't get stories
read to them at bedtime.
And so, backstory, I always wealways read a story at bedtime.
It's just a practice in ourhouse.
We always do that and even dothe 25 books, calendar books for
(18:03):
run up to Christmas.
So it's like and then on the on, then, yeah, exactly, so we
collect books throughout theyear and then you know Christmas
books or whatever, and then weread them on the run up to
Christmas and then the nightbefore Christmas, only Christmas
, christmas Eve.
So it's just been a practicethat we've done.
And honestly, he came to me, hewas just upset and he wanted me
(18:24):
to fix this, you know, becauseparents don't always have time.
It's not a dig or anything.
It's just something thathappens and honestly, I did not
know what to do until he said apodcast do um.
Until he said a podcast.
And you know, when you hearthings coming out of the, the,
(18:44):
you know from the, from themouths of babes, like, well, he
knew I was doing podcasting, um,he knew that I couldn't um,
like he wasn't allowed in theroom when I was doing some
certain interviews and thingslike that, right, um, so um, and
of course, um, I use theroadcaster pro, so it's like a
um, it's like a deck, I guessyou could call it, and there's
(19:05):
all buttons and stuff.
So he knew somewhat aboutpodcasting um, and when he said
a podcast, it was like, oh, youknow, maybe that might work, and
so I decided to kind of checkit out.
I went on facebook, um, lookedup groups, independent, um kind
of authors, children's authors,and then just made a post and so
(19:29):
many people were interested, um, and so we have like six or
seven episodes, but basically hesat down with me, we recorded
his little intro and outro, um,and then he, he picked out a
little jingle as well, um, andit's so, we called it rory
stories.
And then, um, another, um,amazing artist, um, graphic
(19:52):
artist, um, actually based inindonesia of all places.
Um, facebook is amazing, butanyway, um, he, he kind of saw
what we were doing and he waslike I'd love to contribute, I
just don't know how, and I waslike, what about doing like a
little cover art for the, thepodcast?
And he did, and, oh my gosh,like couldn't have done a better
job, and so, yeah, it'ssomething that I really need to
(20:16):
push a little bit more.
Since then, um, we've met, um,uh, people from United Way, um,
uh, if you're not familiar withthem, they're a charity
organization and they want to,they want to be part of this as
well.
So, um, these artists, Iencourage them to send the
(20:37):
actual books, the hard copies ofthe book.
So we have quite a few hardcopies and, as as these are,
read um, once it's finished,they're going to be donated to
united way and they're going tochoose where they go to um and
it's so, and they will bedonated in his name and so when
he gets older, he can um, he cansay hey, hey, I was part of
(21:02):
something amazing.
And, on top of that kind ofselfishly, when he has
girlfriends come around for thefirst time, most people have
photos of them in the bath andstuff.
I have a podcast that'simmortalized on all of
(21:23):
podcasting mediums across theworld, so I'm going to enjoy
that immensely, but he's alsoincredibly cute.
Dad of the year, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Oh, that's cute.
You've got photographs of yourkid naked in the bathtub.
Listen to this.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Boom, yeah, look at that.
And so, yeah, it's a mic dropand, to be honest with you, it's
been enlightening to me.
Just, you know we talked aboutthe fact that I'm recently
separated from my wife and it'sbeen, it's been really testing
(22:00):
um on on me and and the kids andeverything, and but I will say
this like, even though myselfand herself are not seeing eye
to eye there's a lot ofarguments.
One thing is true, one thingstays true, which is our desire
to make sure the kids feel loved, and that shows through when I
(22:22):
hear him say things like youknow, I want to help people, or
I want to.
Like he got recognized in hisschool for being the one to find
someone who's lonely and needsa friend because he just he's
social butterfly.
You know, he's just one ofthose kids.
So it just it's amazing.
(22:42):
Now, we'll always havedisagreements amongst adults
when relationships end, but Iwill never, ever, ever put her
down as a mom and I think thatis something that we will always
agree on, which is that ourkids are loved.
We're very, very, very lucky.
(23:02):
They're just loving little kidsand the kindness that we've
received and shown them.
Like he says goodbye at thesupermarket, like to the checker
yeah, it's just, it's habitual,like what do you say, oh, thank
you, goodbye, and it's just now.
He just it's.
It's, it's habitual, like whatdo you say, oh, thank you,
goodbye, and it's just now.
(23:23):
He does it all the time.
One day he turned to me and hegoes.
I don't think he was having agood day, daddy.
I was like why he didn't saygoodbye?
I was like okay.
I was like you're not wrong,you're not wrong so funny.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Uh, similar thing.
We have my grandson.
He'll be three in November.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Great age, so much fun.
My little girl is three and sheis sass in.
Yeah, just personified.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, it's exactly what it is, but we had the whole
family over the whole family.
We had the two boys over andtheir spouses or partners or
whatever, and then my grandson,of course, and our youngest had
to leave first and, as he andhis partner were leaving out of
(24:16):
nowhere, no prompting HappyEaster.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I know, right, hi, right, I'm like, yeah, what?
Yeah, you know kids are soperceptive.
You know, mike, honestly, it's,it's one of those things that
it's sobering as an adult whenyou see kids, just and you
realize you know they're seeingthat somewhere and you're,
you're, you hope and you praythat it's you.
But like, in all in allfairness, um, you know, kids are
like glued to electronicdevices.
(24:47):
Now they're watching youtube,they're watching bluey, they're
watching all these different um,social, um contributors on on
on youtube and whatever else andand while there is a play that
you know you don't want themseeing too much of that.
Like, my kids have learned somuch from that.
My, my little boy now knows howto voice search on YouTube and
(25:10):
if he wants to learn aboutvolcanoes, he goes in and he
looks up volcanoes and hewatches videos.
He watches earthquakes, heloves all that natural disaster
stuff.
Can you teach me how to do that?
Yes, sure, um, but the otherthing as well is when I walked
in and he was searching divorcebecause he didn't understand,
(25:35):
and so, like that in itself, youknow, it actually ended up
being something that was veryuseful for him and made me
realize that you know, we takefor granted sometimes that kids
are.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
You say oh no, they don't understand.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, they do, yeah, they do, yeah, they do.
They see kindness everywhereand they try and emulate what
you're doing.
And you know, back to the factthat we're talking about
kindness here, like the realityis, is that I don't want to
breed people that are not kind.
I don't want to raise peoplethat are not kind.
(26:12):
You want, you know there'sgoing to be people out there
that are just not nice.
It's just they're grumpy, youknow.
But, like I said to you beforewe started, my mantra now is a
Ted Lasso classic, because ifyou watch that show, it's huge.
But also Walt Whitman quote uh,classic, because if you watch
(26:33):
that show, it's huge.
Um, but also walt whitman, umquote.
It's um, be be curious, notjudgmental, and it's.
It's actually guided me throughsome pretty precarious
situations where normally Iwould just get hot.
You know, um, it it's.
It's easy to just judge, it'seasy, it's easy to just be like,
oh, that guy is such a beep,you know, yes, no, there's just
(26:59):
no, there's no grace anymore,and I feel like we just need to
get back to that.
And be curious, not judgmental,is a great thing, you know,
there's other.
You know, if you're notreligious, that's an amazing
quote to go with.
If not, then thing, you know,you know there's other.
You know, if you're notreligious, that's an amazing
quote to go with.
If not, then you know whatwould jesus do.
Or you know, whatever yourreligion is, it's just get back
(27:19):
to basics, basic human kindness.
It's such a foreign entity rightnow and it's like just be good
to each other, like, is it thatdifficult?
Like it, it seems like it is,but you know, I I don't get into
politics and I don't get allthat uh bent out of shape about
stuff.
It doesn't matter whatpresident we have, it doesn't
(27:41):
matter who's in power, itdoesn't matter, none of that
matters, because he, whoever itis, is one person.
It's.
I always say control yourcontrollables, right?
You can't control who's inpower now.
He's been voted in right,however upset you are or not
right.
But you can control what you do, you can control how you lead
(28:03):
your life.
And so, instead of sittingthere bitching about all the bad
things that have happened, lead, lead by example.
Like, just go out there andlead with kindness, lead with
grace.
You know, like you know it's itis.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
It's so easy to get caught up in the oh well, this
is gonna happen, and let's befair the conspiracy theorists
are gonna be sitting there.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, exactly, the conspiracy theorists are going
to be sitting there and justjust giving out all the, all the
stuff.
Oh yeah, you know, the weatherlasers are gonna come out of his
eyes and everyone's gonna.
I'm like dude, come on like,just just chill.
Like you know, this is.
This is the world we live innow and if you think america is
(28:49):
in that, you're wrong, go turnon the news, preferably BBC,
because it's less.
It's less, there's no sides toit.
You get data.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I love that I have two sources for news and these,
well, I don't know, but I wasgoing to say neither of them are
American AP, yes, and theIndependent and neither well I
don't know, but I was gonna sayneither of them.
American ap yes, and uh theindependent there you go there
you go but, you, but you lose noblah blah yeah, well, you know
it's, it's.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Look, it's no secret that these, these channels are
funded and owned by people whohave political beliefs.
Right, the bbc is owned and runby the government in England,
so their pride is on just givingimpartial news, and so if I
want to sit down and find outwhat is actually happening,
that's what I watch.
But regardless of that, itdoesn't matter.
(29:46):
What's happening in the worldyou can control.
Look what happened during COVID.
Look at all the stuff.
We wouldn't have gotten out ofit if it wasn't for the kindness
of the people like thoseamazing people in medicine,
those amazing people who tookthe risk of going to work every
day.
When you have some people whoare upset because they have to
(30:08):
get up for work, to go, go to bea barista, I mean like, like,
just sometimes, you just got toyou really ran into the fire.
Yes, 100%, 100%.
But anyway, I digress.
Kindness is the way to live and, honestly, I absolutely love
what you do.
I love the podcast, I love whatyou're putting out into the
(30:30):
world and I think more and morepeople need to just take note
and take example and take kindof solace in the fact that there
are people like Mike out thereand there are people that want
to be kind, that want tohighlight that there is kindness
still out there.
You know, whether it's asix-year-old or a five-year-old
(30:51):
or a four-year-old that wants tomake a podcast, or whether, um,
it's just cheering on um,someone who is down syndrome,
who got a job at walmart and isis moving carts around and and
just being kind and showing thatyou appreciate them.
Whatever your kindness lookslike, it doesn't go unnoticed at
all.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yes, so and you might think it does, but it doesn't.
I love that.
Yeah, that 30 minutes that youjust spent doom scrolling while
you were listening to thispodcast.
You could have been outvolunteering in an animal
shelter exactly, exactly andactually making a positive
difference in the world.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
100 100%, 100%.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You should still be listening to the podcast 100%.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, I mean, mike is a Look.
I came on this podcast becauseMike resonated with me hugely.
We connected on Facebook and Iwant everyone to realize that
this is not an easy game to bein and it isn't fruitful in any
way, shape or form.
It's not like we get paid abunch of money.
(31:53):
We like creating content andMike is one of those people and
I'm very, very, very blessed andgrateful to be on the show and
I appreciate everything that youdo, mike, and I hope that we
can get this, this lovely show,back up at the top of the charts
or whatever it needs to be, sopeople can hear more about
kindness, because I think it'ssomething that definitely needs
(32:14):
to be um promoted a lot more wow, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Thank you, phil.
I really appreciate that andand we're gonna listen for your
stuff too.
I appreciate so much for yourtime, phil, um wrap it up and
wrap it up wrap it up.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Thanks to everyone for listening.
Keep listening to Mike.
Yeah, that's it wrap, wrap,wrap.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Sorry, thanks everybody for tuning in.
We'll talk to you later.
Have a good day, phil.
We will be in touch thanks alot.
I want to thank you for takingthis time to listen to this
episode with my guest, philipParker Boy.
The world needs more PhilipParkers, and it needs more
(33:02):
people like you, folks whoappreciate kindness and want to
learn more about it and learnabout people who are being kind
and learn about people who arebeing kind.
I just hope that you're able totake something positive from
the time that you spent herewith us today.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
(33:23):
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends and family.
I'm always trying to offer youa better podcast, so give me
some feedback.
Let me know how you think I'mdoing.
Email me, leave me a message onmy socials, leave me a message
(33:44):
wherever you listen to thispodcast.
It would mean the world to meand it would also help make a
better podcast, I hope Also feelfree to follow us on our
socials like Facebook, instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
(34:05):
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
assistance, or you already havea podcast and are looking for a
supportive network to join,check out MaydayMediaNetworkcom
and check out the many differentshows, like Afrocentric,
spoiled, my Movie GenerationMixtape In a Pickle Radio Show,
(34:26):
wake Up and Dream with D AnthonyPalin, stacks of Packs and the
Time Pals.
We will be back again next weekwith a brand new episode and we
would be honored if you wouldjoin us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
I'm your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizations,that are simply striving to
make their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
(00:42):
Check us out.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the Kindness Matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the showeverybody.
I am your host, mike Rathbun,and, in case you missed it, from
the intro, you're listening tothe Kindness Matters podcast.
(01:04):
From the intro, you'relistening to the Kindness
Matters podcast.
I am so happy that you made aconscious choice to spend 30
minutes of your day listening tothis podcast, and I appreciate
it.
I thank you.
You know what I appreciate itmore If you told your friends
and neighbors what anoutstanding podcast this is, and
you know what I'm not beneathit, I'll lie.
(01:25):
If you want to lie about it andsay it's the best podcast you
ever heard, I'm okay with that.
No, I'm just kidding, don't dothat.
I have got such a fantasticshow for you today.
A lot of my guests on thispodcast tend to be presidents,
(01:50):
directors, life coaches, ceos orheads of non-profits that kind
of thing.
But my guest today is such arefreshing change from all of
that.
He is a fellow podcaster andworks with Unscripted
(02:16):
Productions.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You got it.
Don't lose the yes, I did.
Yes, I did.
Don't lose the confidence.
You have all the script, don'tworry, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And it just went down the toilet.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Welcome to the show Philip Parker.
Thank you for having me, Mike.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere.
What you do is awesome, so I'mexcited to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I really appreciate that, philip, I mean, and a lot
of my guests.
They are usually coming atkindness from one side or the
other right.
They're either receiving it orthey're giving it.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You are actively trying to do both.
Yes, yes, yes, it's been ajourney.
I'm not gonna lie to you, um,because that would be rude, um,
but it's, it's very, it's, it'svery refreshing to find that
(03:17):
humanity is not lost.
And, um, over the last four orfive years of my life, I've been
graced with kindness, and itjust continues.
And I think it's who yousurround yourself with and who
you allow yourself to be around,I guess is the best way to put
that.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, the last four or five years of all of our
lives have been a little weird,haven't they?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, a little turbulent.
You know we won't mention why,because it never stops being
talked about.
But you know it's one of thosethings.
We got through it as a nation,as the world, and we learned a
little bit about ourselves fromit, I think.
So that's always fun.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's always fun.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
As a matter of fact, I learned how to podcast during
that time right, right, that'skind of where I started, okay
maybe I did, maybe I didn't.
The audience will be the judgeof that.
Really, do you think you did,mike?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, I think so you know what we, we, uh, we.
There's always, there's alwaysa learning curve, but I think
your shows are very enlighteningand it's something different to
highlight a specific trait inhuman.
I guess culture and kindness issomething that we don't focus
(04:42):
on enough.
You know, it's as simple asholding a door.
I mean, that's called generallymanners.
But you know, I think we'vejust forgotten our social
abilities and kindness is,believe it or not, a social
ability.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, and you brought up something when you were
first talking about how showingthe world that there are still
kind people out there or rightright, right because they are,
and I think we forget thatsometimes yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
You see you, I think, um, social media, um, general
media, um, unfortunately justpaints a very dire picture for
everyone, where it's likeapocalypse now and oh my gosh,
don't go outside, and people areevil and all this kind of stuff
.
And reality is is that, um,it's as simple as you know.
(05:34):
You don't have to be religious.
But, like um, I had um mormonscome to my door and I let them
in.
I had a conversation with them.
They're just generally nicepeople.
You don't have to slam a dooron somebody.
You can be courteous, you canbe polite.
They're just out doing theirfaith thing.
Everyone is entitled to it, butI think people just forget all
(05:57):
that stuff.
It's just social interactionhas been a forgotten skill and
I've been lucky and fortunateenough.
Um, in the beginning of all ofthis, during covid um, I had my
neighbor, um, put me up with my,with my, with my ex-wife now,
but, um, and my uh, young son,and you know it's, it's things
(06:21):
like that.
You know it's, it's, it's allof these things, um, as they
collectively come together.
Now somebody is going to besitting around a table right now
listening to this podcast andthey're going to be like man,
why don't I see any kindness andit's like you know what.
I hate to call it out, but youget what you give a lot of times
in life and, um, you know, Itry and push into the ethos that
(06:46):
I am a good person.
Unfortunately, I have myfailings, like all of us.
Nobody's perfect.
But you know, that's why thepodcasting became a thing for me
.
I started the UnscriptedPerspective initially and it was
just learning about differentperspectives, uh, people's
unique traits, like I would havehad you on, uh, just to learn
(07:08):
about.
Why did you start the kindnesspodcast, like what you know,
that kind of stuff, justhighlighting people's uniques,
uniqueness and and all of that,and it just kind of spurred on
from there.
I did a music podcast and, um,you know, we're going to talk
about rory stories as well.
And then, um, um, I think thebiggest, the biggest one for me
recently was, um, my mentalhealth podcast.
(07:32):
You know, um, and that's, andthat's really the thing that I
focused on recently, justbecause mental health is such a
huge thing and, as you aptly put, you can put a post on Facebook
and have thousands of lifecoaches and people that want to
help you mentally.
So I said, well, you know, ifthere's an abundance of people
out there that want to help, Iwant to be the tool, I guess, to
(07:55):
allow that to happen.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, so okay.
So your podcast, the UnscriptedPerspective, is one, yes, yes.
You were talking about music.
You started another one calledUntouched Melodies.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
That's correct.
Yeah, that's a live.
So I've kind of moved fromaudio to live streaming just to
kind of get the interaction ofthe audience.
It's a little bit more fun.
I dare to be different, much tomy chagrin in the beginning,
because things crash andcomputers fall, fall apart and
(08:31):
streams just die and stuff.
But, um, you know, we figuredit out and um, I think it just
adds to the authenticity of a,of a chat.
Like I don't do a scripted chatat all, it's just not, it's not
part of I.
I feel like the most enjoyablepodcasts I've listened to have
not been scripted.
So I think that's just kind ofhow I I go with that so
(08:53):
untouched melodies.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Now, that was showcasing what just into.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, yeah, essentially, I went on spotify
one day and there's a bunch ofmusicians that I was like what,
why are they only like at athousand followers or 50, 50
followers or listeners orwhatever?
And so I reached out and, um, II got them to come on the
podcast and then it just kind ofspurred from there.
Um, they told their friends,their artists and all that, and
(09:20):
it just kept kept going.
Um, you know, I had musicianson, uh, the unscripted
perspective as well, but I thinkum, kind of really just
focusing on one topic allows myaudience and listeners to kind
of just really separate the thestuff, what they want to listen
to, I guess, um from from what'sout there, because you know, as
(09:42):
you said, you I've had lifecoaches, I've had paranormal
investigators, I've got all thisstuff and some people just
aren't interested in that.
So it allows people to justkind of really focus in on what
they want to listen to.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, well, and that's kind of.
I mean, you're basicallyhelping them to get a wider
audience, and that seems darnkind to me.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, yeah, that seems darn kind to me.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Well, yeah, I mean yeah, you could say that.
Yeah, because, yeah, you thinkabout the artists.
You see all the artists, right,but you're only seeing the ones
, or hearing the ones, that showup on your radio.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, that's kind of old-fashioned, but you know,
Well yeah, no, you're right.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You're right.
I mean, let's call it what itis um, you can be an artist now
by just having a youtube account.
So I think, um, it's really,it's really, um, I guess,
important when you find thattalent.
You know, it's not justamerican idol and agt and all
these other talent shows.
Um, there are some really greatartists out there that haven't
(10:45):
been discovered, and so I'm notgoing to pretend that I'm this
amazing guy that can find greatmusic, but I enjoy meeting
people.
I think podcasting is a greatmedium for that, and if they get
one or two followers out of myshow, it's a win for them,
because they've grown theiraudience and you know, they use
(11:10):
all of the clips and stuff thatI make.
They can use it for promotionand they have done.
In fact, there's one where I'mnot I wouldn't say I'm not happy
, but it's just, it's it'schopped up and kind of remixed
and I have a really weirdlooking face in there.
But hey, I allow it, it's allfun.
Um, it's incredibly enough.
(11:33):
Rory um loved one of the tracksthat got a Grammy um, uh,
grammy nomination, and he heloved it so much.
He was dancing around the thekitchen and I filmed him dancing
around the kitchen singing thesong and that was a tiktok post.
Um, they asked if I could, ifthey could use it, and it went
(11:55):
viral on tiktok.
So his claim to fame began alittle earlier than I
anticipated.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
yeah, wow, no kidding , yeah, I never expected my son
to go viral at three, four orearlier than I anticipated.
Yeah, wow, no kidding.
Yeah, I never expected my sonto go viral at three, four,
whatever the case may be.
Right, yeah, and you do.
I see so many artists on TikTokand they're just like you know,
like share.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, that you do.
Yeah, it's a different worldout there now.
It's very different.
Now it's like you I waswatching a ray the other day, a
great movie, if anyone hasn'tseen it but like like back in
the back in the old days, likeit was about getting airplay and
getting on the radio and stuff.
Now it's about tiktok,followers and and all this kind
(12:44):
of stuff.
So it's, it's, it's a different, it's a different world.
And while, yes, spotify haschanged the, the dynamic and
people, some would argue thatthey've, you know, um, ruined
the, the ethos a little bitbecause of how easily accessed
and how much they, how littlethey pay or whatever, but the
(13:05):
reality is is they've actuallybroken down the barriers as well
.
So, like, I actually havewritten and produced music and
put it on Spotify and it's, it'sa great, it's a great medium
and I believe that you, you know, with ai now being a huge thing
, um, you're just going to seemore and more.
Like you don't have to evensing anymore.
(13:27):
You can, you can go in and makeyour voice sound like whoever
you want write a song andthey'll do it for you.
It's, it's just crazy.
It's, you know, it's out of ascience fiction movie.
It's crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Oh my gosh yeah, I mean back to Ray for a second.
That was, you had 100 copies ofyour song on reel-to-reel
probably.
Yeah, yes, exactly Round toradio stations all over the
country just saying please givethis a listen.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
It became a little easier because you'd do cassette
tapes, but that was very muchthe same the thing back then.
That was how you got noticed,how you got on the air, how you
got played.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, you'd go in and you'd have a chat with the DJ
and stuff.
It wasn't like you could justphone it in as they do now and
stuff it was.
It was, it wasn't like youcould just phone it in as they
do now, but like you, literally,you literally had to go in and
and and almost sing live a lotof the time in certain aspects.
So, yeah, look, music hasevolved in such a great way and,
you know, um, in in 10 or 15years, something else is going
(14:37):
to happen and then they're goingto be whining that that
happened and it's just change isnot easy to embrace for some
people.
But talent is never really it's.
You can't ignore talent.
No, you know, if you couldn'twrite a song, your song wouldn't
make it on the radio.
Your song wouldn't get noticed.
(14:59):
If you couldn't sing, it usedto be that you wouldn't get
noticed, but now, if you canwrite an amazing song, put it
through ai and, and all of asudden your song is, is content.
So I think it's something, it'ssomething good.
Um, you know, uh, I actuallywas chatting with um, some more
um, I would say visitors, butthey're, you know, like
(15:22):
religious, religious visitorslet's call them that, okay and
um and um, I was telling themthat hey, you should probably
like make some stuff, and theyhad me write some, uh, um kind
of music, um, faith music, andit was great it was.
It was a really differentexperience, but also it just
shows that you can do anythingif you put your mind to it, and
(15:45):
so we've really gone off ontothe say that again yeah, we're
out in the weeds now, but it'sfine, you wrote them jingles or
what no actual songs.
They were legitimate songs.
So, for those not trying toplug anything but, um, there's a
lot of ai apps and um, um, I uhconnected with timbaland on his
(16:11):
instagram and we like we're notlike friends or anything, but
like it's.
He was doing a live stream andI was going, hey, what's this
Suno thing?
And he was telling hisfollowers all about it and he
just pushed that, hey, it's agreat tool, you should try it
out.
And so I did, and it'sincredible.
You pump in your own vocals.
(16:31):
If you want, you can toy withyour own vocals.
You can make it sound howeveryou wish.
You can put in what you want itto sound like, and you might
take 15, 15 times, likegenerating all the audio, but
you can clip it and and reallyedit it, and that's where the
fun is.
You make something amazing andyou're just like, oh my god, I
can't believe I did that.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
It's just crazy so it's like you lay down the
vocals, then you go.
What this part needs is horns.
You lay in some horn exactly,exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
So, yeah, it is, it's fun, it's fun, definitely fun
uh, okay, so let's.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You mentioned your son, rory, and this is one of
the the nicest stories I thinkI've ever heard, ever, ever, and
it yes it goes to how you areand how you're raising your kid
too, I think I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know, um rory is um rory's my little boy and uh,
at four years of age he came tome during covid um, and it was
in ireland at the time we'reactually in ireland for covid
because I was trying to takecare of my parents and and kind
of get them through a tough time.
Um and um, he came home from umI guess they call it preschool
(17:42):
here, play school over there,whatever it is and he was kind
of upset.
He was just like, ah, you know,my friends don't get stories
read to them at bedtime.
And so, backstory, I always wealways read a story at bedtime.
It's just a practice in ourhouse.
We always do that and even dothe 25 books, calendar books for
(18:03):
run up to Christmas.
So it's like and then on the on, then, yeah, exactly, so we
collect books throughout theyear and then you know Christmas
books or whatever, and then weread them on the run up to
Christmas and then the nightbefore Christmas, only Christmas
, christmas Eve.
So it's just been a practicethat we've done.
And honestly, he came to me, hewas just upset and he wanted me
(18:24):
to fix this, you know, becauseparents don't always have time.
It's not a dig or anything.
It's just something thathappens and honestly, I did not
know what to do until he said apodcast do um.
Until he said a podcast.
And you know, when you hearthings coming out of the, the,
(18:44):
you know from the, from themouths of babes, like, well, he
knew I was doing podcasting, um,he knew that I couldn't um,
like he wasn't allowed in theroom when I was doing some
certain interviews and thingslike that, right, um, so um, and
of course, um, I use theroadcaster pro, so it's like a
um, it's like a deck, I guessyou could call it, and there's
(19:05):
all buttons and stuff.
So he knew somewhat aboutpodcasting um, and when he said
a podcast, it was like, oh, youknow, maybe that might work, and
so I decided to kind of checkit out.
I went on facebook, um, lookedup groups, independent, um kind
of authors, children's authors,and then just made a post and so
(19:29):
many people were interested, um, and so we have like six or
seven episodes, but basically hesat down with me, we recorded
his little intro and outro, um,and then he, he picked out a
little jingle as well, um, andit's so, we called it rory
stories.
And then, um, another, um,amazing artist, um, graphic
(19:52):
artist, um, actually based inindonesia of all places.
Um, facebook is amazing, butanyway, um, he, he kind of saw
what we were doing and he waslike I'd love to contribute, I
just don't know how, and I waslike, what about doing like a
little cover art for the, thepodcast?
And he did, and, oh my gosh,like couldn't have done a better
job, and so, yeah, it'ssomething that I really need to
(20:16):
push a little bit more.
Since then, um, we've met, um,uh, people from United Way, um,
uh, if you're not familiar withthem, they're a charity
organization and they want to,they want to be part of this as
well.
So, um, these artists, Iencourage them to send the
(20:37):
actual books, the hard copies ofthe book.
So we have quite a few hardcopies and, as as these are,
read um, once it's finished,they're going to be donated to
united way and they're going tochoose where they go to um and
it's so, and they will bedonated in his name and so when
he gets older, he can um, he cansay hey, hey, I was part of
(21:02):
something amazing.
And, on top of that kind ofselfishly, when he has
girlfriends come around for thefirst time, most people have
photos of them in the bath andstuff.
I have a podcast that'simmortalized on all of
(21:23):
podcasting mediums across theworld, so I'm going to enjoy
that immensely, but he's alsoincredibly cute.
Dad of the year, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Oh, that's cute.
You've got photographs of yourkid naked in the bathtub.
Listen to this.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Boom, yeah, look at that.
And so, yeah, it's a mic dropand, to be honest with you, it's
been enlightening to me.
Just, you know we talked aboutthe fact that I'm recently
separated from my wife and it'sbeen, it's been really testing
(22:00):
um on on me and and the kids andeverything, and but I will say
this like, even though myselfand herself are not seeing eye
to eye there's a lot ofarguments.
One thing is true, one thingstays true, which is our desire
to make sure the kids feel loved, and that shows through when I
(22:22):
hear him say things like youknow, I want to help people, or
I want to.
Like he got recognized in hisschool for being the one to find
someone who's lonely and needsa friend because he just he's
social butterfly.
You know, he's just one ofthose kids.
So it just it's amazing.
(22:42):
Now, we'll always havedisagreements amongst adults
when relationships end, but Iwill never, ever, ever put her
down as a mom and I think thatis something that we will always
agree on, which is that ourkids are loved.
We're very, very, very lucky.
(23:02):
They're just loving little kidsand the kindness that we've
received and shown them.
Like he says goodbye at thesupermarket, like to the checker
yeah, it's just, it's habitual,like what do you say, oh, thank
you, goodbye, and it's just now.
He just it's.
It's, it's habitual, like whatdo you say, oh, thank you,
goodbye, and it's just now.
(23:23):
He does it all the time.
One day he turned to me and hegoes.
I don't think he was having agood day, daddy.
I was like why he didn't saygoodbye?
I was like okay.
I was like you're not wrong,you're not wrong so funny.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Uh, similar thing.
We have my grandson.
He'll be three in November.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Great age, so much fun.
My little girl is three and sheis sass in.
Yeah, just personified.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, it's exactly what it is, but we had the whole
family over the whole family.
We had the two boys over andtheir spouses or partners or
whatever, and then my grandson,of course, and our youngest had
to leave first and, as he andhis partner were leaving out of
(24:16):
nowhere, no prompting HappyEaster.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I know, right, hi, right, I'm like, yeah, what?
Yeah, you know kids are soperceptive.
You know, mike, honestly, it's,it's one of those things that
it's sobering as an adult whenyou see kids, just and you
realize you know they're seeingthat somewhere and you're,
you're, you hope and you praythat it's you.
But like, in all in allfairness, um, you know, kids are
like glued to electronicdevices.
(24:47):
Now they're watching youtube,they're watching bluey, they're
watching all these different um,social, um contributors on on
on youtube and whatever else andand while there is a play that
you know you don't want themseeing too much of that.
Like, my kids have learned somuch from that.
My, my little boy now knows howto voice search on YouTube and
(25:10):
if he wants to learn aboutvolcanoes, he goes in and he
looks up volcanoes and hewatches videos.
He watches earthquakes, heloves all that natural disaster
stuff.
Can you teach me how to do that?
Yes, sure, um, but the otherthing as well is when I walked
in and he was searching divorcebecause he didn't understand,
(25:35):
and so, like that in itself, youknow, it actually ended up
being something that was veryuseful for him and made me
realize that you know, we takefor granted sometimes that kids
are.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
You say oh no, they don't understand.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, they do, yeah, they do, yeah, they do.
They see kindness everywhereand they try and emulate what
you're doing.
And you know, back to the factthat we're talking about
kindness here, like the realityis, is that I don't want to
breed people that are not kind.
I don't want to raise peoplethat are not kind.
(26:12):
You want, you know there'sgoing to be people out there
that are just not nice.
It's just they're grumpy, youknow.
But, like I said to you beforewe started, my mantra now is a
Ted Lasso classic, because ifyou watch that show, it's huge.
But also Walt Whitman quote uh,classic, because if you watch
(26:33):
that show, it's huge.
Um, but also walt whitman, umquote.
It's um, be be curious, notjudgmental, and it's.
It's actually guided me throughsome pretty precarious
situations where normally Iwould just get hot.
You know, um, it it's.
It's easy to just judge, it'seasy, it's easy to just be like,
oh, that guy is such a beep,you know, yes, no, there's just
(26:59):
no, there's no grace anymore,and I feel like we just need to
get back to that.
And be curious, not judgmental,is a great thing, you know,
there's other.
You know, if you're notreligious, that's an amazing
quote to go with.
If not, then thing, you know,you know there's other.
You know, if you're notreligious, that's an amazing
quote to go with.
If not, then you know whatwould jesus do.
Or you know, whatever yourreligion is, it's just get back
(27:19):
to basics, basic human kindness.
It's such a foreign entity rightnow and it's like just be good
to each other, like, is it thatdifficult?
Like it, it seems like it is,but you know, I I don't get into
politics and I don't get allthat uh bent out of shape about
stuff.
It doesn't matter whatpresident we have, it doesn't
(27:41):
matter who's in power, itdoesn't matter, none of that
matters, because he, whoever itis, is one person.
It's.
I always say control yourcontrollables, right?
You can't control who's inpower now.
He's been voted in right,however upset you are or not
right.
But you can control what you do, you can control how you lead
(28:03):
your life.
And so, instead of sittingthere bitching about all the bad
things that have happened, lead, lead by example.
Like, just go out there andlead with kindness, lead with
grace.
You know, like you know it's itis.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
It's so easy to get caught up in the oh well, this
is gonna happen, and let's befair the conspiracy theorists
are gonna be sitting there.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, exactly, the conspiracy theorists are going
to be sitting there and justjust giving out all the, all the
stuff.
Oh yeah, you know, the weatherlasers are gonna come out of his
eyes and everyone's gonna.
I'm like dude, come on like,just just chill.
Like you know, this is.
This is the world we live innow and if you think america is
(28:49):
in that, you're wrong, go turnon the news, preferably BBC,
because it's less.
It's less, there's no sides toit.
You get data.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I love that I have two sources for news and these,
well, I don't know, but I wasgoing to say neither of them are
American AP, yes, and theIndependent and neither well I
don't know, but I was gonna sayneither of them.
American ap yes, and uh theindependent there you go there
you go but, you, but you lose noblah blah yeah, well, you know
it's, it's.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Look, it's no secret that these, these channels are
funded and owned by people whohave political beliefs.
Right, the bbc is owned and runby the government in England,
so their pride is on just givingimpartial news, and so if I
want to sit down and find outwhat is actually happening,
that's what I watch.
But regardless of that, itdoesn't matter.
(29:46):
What's happening in the worldyou can control.
Look what happened during COVID.
Look at all the stuff.
We wouldn't have gotten out ofit if it wasn't for the kindness
of the people like thoseamazing people in medicine,
those amazing people who tookthe risk of going to work every
day.
When you have some people whoare upset because they have to
(30:08):
get up for work, to go, go to bea barista, I mean like, like,
just sometimes, you just got toyou really ran into the fire.
Yes, 100%, 100%.
But anyway, I digress.
Kindness is the way to live and, honestly, I absolutely love
what you do.
I love the podcast, I love whatyou're putting out into the
(30:30):
world and I think more and morepeople need to just take note
and take example and take kindof solace in the fact that there
are people like Mike out thereand there are people that want
to be kind, that want tohighlight that there is kindness
still out there.
You know, whether it's asix-year-old or a five-year-old
(30:51):
or a four-year-old that wants tomake a podcast, or whether, um,
it's just cheering on um,someone who is down syndrome,
who got a job at walmart and isis moving carts around and and
just being kind and showing thatyou appreciate them.
Whatever your kindness lookslike, it doesn't go unnoticed at
all.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yes, so and you might think it does, but it doesn't.
I love that.
Yeah, that 30 minutes that youjust spent doom scrolling while
you were listening to thispodcast.
You could have been outvolunteering in an animal
shelter exactly, exactly andactually making a positive
difference in the world.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
100 100%, 100%.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You should still be listening to the podcast 100%.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, I mean, mike is a Look.
I came on this podcast becauseMike resonated with me hugely.
We connected on Facebook and Iwant everyone to realize that
this is not an easy game to bein and it isn't fruitful in any
way, shape or form.
It's not like we get paid abunch of money.
(31:53):
We like creating content andMike is one of those people and
I'm very, very, very blessed andgrateful to be on the show and
I appreciate everything that youdo, mike, and I hope that we
can get this, this lovely show,back up at the top of the charts
or whatever it needs to be, sopeople can hear more about
kindness, because I think it'ssomething that definitely needs
(32:14):
to be um promoted a lot more wow, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Thank you, phil.
I really appreciate that andand we're gonna listen for your
stuff too.
I appreciate so much for yourtime, phil, um wrap it up and
wrap it up wrap it up.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Thanks to everyone for listening.
Keep listening to Mike.
Yeah, that's it wrap, wrap,wrap.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Sorry, thanks everybody for tuning in.
We'll talk to you later.
Have a good day, phil.
We will be in touch thanks alot.
I want to thank you for takingthis time to listen to this
episode with my guest, philipParker Boy.
The world needs more PhilipParkers, and it needs more
(33:02):
people like you, folks whoappreciate kindness and want to
learn more about it and learnabout people who are being kind
and learn about people who arebeing kind.
I just hope that you're able totake something positive from
the time that you spent herewith us today.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
(33:23):
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends and family.
I'm always trying to offer youa better podcast, so give me
some feedback.
Let me know how you think I'mdoing.
Email me, leave me a message onmy socials, leave me a message
(33:44):
wherever you listen to thispodcast.
It would mean the world to meand it would also help make a
better podcast, I hope Also feelfree to follow us on our
socials like Facebook, instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
(34:05):
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
assistance, or you already havea podcast and are looking for a
supportive network to join,check out MaydayMediaNetworkcom
and check out the many differentshows, like Afrocentric,
spoiled, my Movie GenerationMixtape In a Pickle Radio Show,
(34:26):
wake Up and Dream with D AnthonyPalin, stacks of Packs and the
Time Pals.
We will be back again next weekwith a brand new episode and we
would be honored if you wouldjoin us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
I'm your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
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