Bahá’ís in Dallas, Texas, employed imaginative games, balloons, stickers and a mural to engage with hundreds of people enjoying the popular Ronald Kirk Pedestrian Bridge and invite their thoughts on what’s important in life.

The event kicked off a weekend of celebrations across the city honoring the 200th anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh.

“Since the Birth of the Báb was the first of the Twin Holy Days being celebrated,” explains Samir Akhtarkhavari, “the planning committee decided that it would be best to host a public proclamation event to 1) introduce the Person of the Báb, 2) publicly proclaim and celebrate His birthday and 3) use this event as an opportunity to invite friends … to our bicentenary celebration the following day.”

Bicentenary events — 18 in total — were held in eight locations in Dallas and drew a total of 708 people, including 433 from the larger community, says Auxiliary Board member Kambiz Rafraf. The activities were held primarily in homes, but a number of them were in public places such as a middle school, a cultural center and the central public library.

A multipronged approach

The pedestrian bridge over the Trinity River connects downtown Dallas with neighborhoods to its west and is “a great place for people from diverse backgrounds to assemble and enjoy time with family and friends,” says Akhtarkhavari. “There are plenty of nice restaurants nearby, bike trails, play areas for the kids and wonderful views of the Dallas city skyline.”

To initiate contact with passers-by, he says, “We implemented a multipronged approach via games, balloons, stickers and a mural.

“We custom-made a Jenga-like game that, when played and each brick was removed and replaced, the player would have to answer a question. A few questions included, ‘Who is your role model?’ ‘What’s your favorite holiday?’ and ‘What skill are you really good at?’ Each of these questions allowed the players to engage in thoughtful reflection and meaningful interactions.”

Custom-made stickers bearing the quote “Let your heart burn with loving-kindness for all who may cross your path” became the “perfect leave-behind tool,” says Akhtarkhavari, “because not only did it afford the person (child, youth and adult) the opportunity to talk about the question with others when asked ‘That’s cool, where’d you get that?’ but also helped carry on the theme of the event.”

The planners also utilized social media, in particular a Snapchat custom filter that imprints photos with information about the activity. “Anyone who took a selfie within the geo-fenced area of the bridge park would be able to [use Snapchat to] select our filter and share it with all of their contacts,” he says.

Mural draws people in

In addition, the planners custom-designed a mural bearing the quote “Let your heart burn with loving-kindness for all who may cross your path” with the question “What does your heart burn for?” inscribed within a heart shaped figure immediately below.

“This was the highlight of our setup,” says Akhtarkhavari. “It allowed us to attract, invite and engage passers-by to answer the question. It was like taking Book 1,” Reflections on the Life of the Spirit in the Ruhi sequence of training courses, “to the streets. Rarely did we encounter someone who did not want to engage with us, for most everyone was willing, eager and excited to share their thoughts on the theme.”

Responses ranged from “social justice” to “an end to world hunger,” “being married,” “equality for all,” “peace,” “family,” “kindness and love,” “my mom,” “happiness for everyone,” “enchiladas,” “really good coffee” and “legit bike lanes.”

To Akhtarkhavari and collaborators, “The beauty of the mural was that it was a ‘pull’ mechanism. … With the mural, we were pulling people into meaningful conversations by asking them to answer a question Ruhi-style. We then leveraged that opportunity to probe further into their response and reason thereof, talk about the Person of Bahá’u’lláh, and teach them about the Faith.

“This is opposed to ‘push,’ which is where we are pushing information onto people in hopes that they’d give us a second or two to squeeze as much information as they patiently or anxiously allowed,” he says. “We all found this method of proclamation so much more inviting, encouraging. ... This method could be used with any other Book 1 quotations and serve as an invitation to learn more about the Faith and join us in various community-building activities.”

An act of kindness

Invariably, when the Bahá’ís approached people and asked them the question “What does your heart burn for?” they responded “What are you doing this for?” or “Are you guys just doing a random act of kindness?” This led to dialogue and an explanation of the event’s purpose.

“At one point, a brother and sister who had previously visited us and wrote on the mural returned to our table holding a bag full of water bottles,” recalls Akhtarkhavari. “They handed each of us working the booth a water bottle.

“I asked their mother, ‘What’s this for? So sweet of you guys!’ To which she responded, ‘I try to teach my kids compassion. That every day must be better than the day before.’ I then said, ‘We have been looking for folks like you so that together we can make this a better place. We are Bahá’ís. Have you heard of it?’

“She said, ‘No, tell me about it. I’m interested.’ So I grabbed a few pamphlets and said, ‘I don’t want to bombard you with too much information but I’m going to’ with a smile. She said, ‘Go for it. I’m all ears. I want to learn about this.’”

Akhtarkhavari proceeded to skim through the material he was handing her and noted a few quotes from Book 1. “After each quote I read out loud, she would, on her own accord, proceed to give me an explanation what each meant to her. It was an amazing encounter and she promised to find the Bahá’ís in her city, some 45 minutes away, to get connected and learn more.”

A story of responding with love

Another encounter was with a woman from Chicago. Her response to the question was, “love, love and more love.” And as she did so, her friend chimed in, “saying that yesterday they went to visit the State Fair of Texas via the train. And on that train were some ‘gangsters’ who were causing a lot of commotion and were making everyone feel uncomfortable. And so she went over to them and engaged them by asking, ‘If I was to get hurt suddenly, would you guys help me?’

“By her simply asking this question of the young men, they changed their tone and proceeded to say ‘Yes, we’d help you,’” the Bahá’ís learned. “She said, ‘We are one family. We have to help each other.’ And when she shared her story, again, we let this lady know that we are looking for people just like you — people who are willing to stand up to injustice and are doing something about it.”