Dartmouth resident calls for kindness

One Dartmouth resident wants everyone to take a moment to take a deep breath, and remember to be kind to those in the community. Many may recognize Nathan Bean as the man who stands at the intersection of Slocum Road and Allen Street with a sign reading “Be Kind.”

“I get to have a little bit of spare time here and there and rather than go home and be insular, I found a safe way to go out and project myself in a way that I hoped most people would absorb,” Bean said. 

He started holding the “Be Kind” sign a year ago when he realized he had some spare time and decided he wanted to do something to help others. 

“I guess it’s very much performance art to make people more self aware in the moment without any imbued bias against them or others,” he said.

He has been holding up signs for about a decade, including phrases like “Hold on…” and “Wait, what?” to encourage people to stop and think. He found that “Be Kind” elicited a positive reaction from passersby and decided to stick with that one. 

Bean’s main goal is to make others consider the community around them, and to take a moment to be kind and neighborly. He wants people to stop and let someone “take that left turn,” donate to a cause they care about or just slow down. 

“People forget that it’s all about just remembering to trust and treat your neighbor with the same sort of kindness that you would want for yourself,” said Bean. 

He is very deliberately apolitical in his messaging, wanting to purely spread kindness in the community. 

A majority of people who see him, he guesses about nine out of 10, have a positive reaction to reading his sign. He said he sees many people take a deep breath as they drive past and then let another driver make a left turn or pass them.

When asked why he does this, his partner Blaine Bacchiocchi said “Out of the kindness of his f—ing heart.”

Some people do have a negative reaction to him and his sign. Typically, this is with rude hand gestures. However, he sees this is a good thing. He wants his sign to make people think and react. Bean also says that discourse is important to democracy, and is a key reason people go to town meetings and democratic open debates. 

“I believe that the discourse is the most important piece of that,” he said. “And if they could pull over and talk, then who knows.”

Bean used to be a teacher and is now a musician and “works in the woods.” Because of this, he feels he is a lifetime learner. He has a small, close knit family he holds in high importance and said he wants people to remember their families. 

“Why don’t we make sure that our next generation is better than we were?” he asked. “When we’re elderly, who’s going to take care of us? My family has been here for several generations, so I’m just trying to make sure that we remember, just to be kind.”

People have offered to donate money to him for the work he does, but he asks that people donate to a cause they care about instead. He suggests that people consider their family history, the struggles they faced, and “prop up those who propped you up.” 

“Just remind people that we are a community,” Bean said. “My elders taught me you better step up. You better step in once we’re gone. So remind people we are a community.”