Photo courtesy of CBS News

Meadow Brook Theatre was flooded with tears of joy on Oct. 29 as the kindness herald, Steve Hartman took the audience back in time to remind them that all Americans are good-hearted even in times of political division. 

“They started this E-speaker series where they’re trying to bring in interesting folks, you know, for little lectures and they honored me with the opportunity to be the first speaker,” Hartman said. “Even though I’ve seen them hundreds of times, sometimes watching them is kind of a cathartic experience, to watch my stories with a group of people.”

A CBS correspondent since 1996, Hartman has captured kindness, empathy and the extraordinary like no one else. With a weekly feature segment, “On the Road,” and his family co-hosted “Kindness 101” series, Hartman connects a storytelling craft with the extraordinary of the common folk. 

“What I like about my job is that I get to shine a spotlight on the way most people are, and the way most people are is kind and good and helping one another, and I think we need to see that on the news,” Hartman said. 

After leaving Toledo, Hartman picked up on the work of CBS journalists who wrote feature stories of the average American. 

“To find the extraordinary and the ordinary, to find those little slices of life that remind people the rest of the country isn’t nearly as bad as the first part of the newscast looks like,” Hartman said.

Whether it was a light-hearted question of “Are All Babies Really Cute?” or a girl’s first encounter with “happy tears,” the audience knew the segments by heart, growing excited at a mere reference to their favorite clips. 

“It’s important for Americans to hear other stories so they have different perspectives,” Hartman said. “Sometimes we get in our little silos and we don’t know how others live. And, you know, it’s good to see that, you know, even people who seem different are really the same”

Coupled with personal anecdotes like the time he received a call from the commander of the international space station or his children’s rise to fame on public playgrounds, Hartman had the audience swinging from laughter to tears. 

“I’m often accused of being in cahoots with the Kleenex Corporation for making people cry,” Hartman said. “But that’s never my intention. I’m actually trying to make people happy, but sometimes those do meet in happy tears. Kind of the world’s greatest oxymoron.”

Tiffany Eckert, Gold Star mom and BGSU graduate, was a guest speaker at the event to attest to the power of kindness and selflessness. 

“That was when, back in 2014, when fate brought Steve into our lives, I saw the return on all of my hard work,” Eckert said. “All of the nights where I would sit by myself, always smiling during the day, always genuinely optimistic, but so many nights when I would sit by myself wondering if I was doing the right thing.”

Inspiring attendees to pursue their passions no matter the challenges, Eckert and Hartman emphasized the importance of compromise and support as a national value. 

“We are now one week away from the most divisive election in our lifetimes. Seems like nothing else matters. Thanksgiving dinners will never be the same,” Hartman said. “Once you walk out that door, there will be pressure to retreat back into it. Social media especially will try to sway you, but don’t bend, don’t listen to that silent call.”

“Even those people who will soon have the audacity to vote for a different president than you, that whole half of the country is good. Most Americans are good. Most Americans are heroes. I think they’re just waiting for their call — good luck finding yours.”