GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Charles Jordan decided in September of 2020 that he had to do something to try and bring some light into a world that just seemed to be getting darker by the day.
He would decide to share a simple message with the strangers he ran into throughout his days —"Excuse me... I know I don't know you, but with everything going on in the world right now, I just want you to know that I love you, I respect you, and if I have to, I will protect you."
His idea was to spread just a small dose of humanity to each person he met, hoping that one day they might be inspired to do the same in some capacity.
“I've got kids, so I didn't want my kids to have to grow up having to deal with stuff that they dealt with before me. So, I mean, I put my foot on the ground and took off running,” Jordan told FOX 17 Friday afternoon.
He began filming some of his interactions so he could demonstrate the idea behind the movement he calls #LoveEndsViolence, posting them on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
“When I first started, I was real nervous... You get the butterflies in your stomach," he explained.
"You don't know how they're gonna react with everything going on. You just can't walk up to people nowadays.”
But to his surprise, his straightforward message really resonated with people.
Jordan's videos on TikTok have already amassed over two million likes, and other users have begun replicating his approach to spreading kindness.
“Everything I’ve been through... I wasn't always proud of myself and proud of stuff that I did. But I can say, as of today, I'm more proud of myself than I've ever been in my 41 years.”
Love Ends Violence— TikTok Page, YouTube Page, Instagram Page
