Nobody expected actor and writer John Cleese to suddenly show up at the Center on Halsted June 16.
His chief weapon was surprise … and a box of flowers courtesy of Random Acts of Flowers Chicago ( RAF )an Evanston-based nonprofit which "recycles and repurposes flowers by engaging dedicated volunteer teams to deliver beautiful bouquets and moments of kindness to individuals in healthcare facilities across the country."
Cleese served as the delivery boy in honor of the victims of the June 12 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which took the lives of 49 people.
He was in town for a family commitment when he was approached by long-time friend and RAF Executive Director Joanie Bayhack to fill the role.
"I think [RAF] is an absolutely wonderful idea because it leads to those tiny little moments of kindness that make everybody feel that life's worthwhile," he said. "I heard today that a member of Parliament [Jo Cox] in England was shot and killed in the streets. It's never happened before in my lifetime so, in this time of crisis, when there's so much mindless violence, aggression and hatred, these little acts of kindness begin to reverse the momentum."
After joking with the Chicago LGBT community by asking for "any spare cash that you can bring to me" to be "dropped off at the Peninsula Hotel in a small brown envelope," Cleese said that "what's going on is so terrible and so contrary to any kind of religious teaching."
"It just shows that it's not the teaching that's at fault," he added. "Unfortunately, the way human beings are, we can take any message and do almost the complete opposite in the name of the founder of the religion. The Christian church used to torture people. How can anyone get that out of Christ's teaching? We just have to fight against it and not let the craziness of these people make us retaliate in a similar way otherwise all is lost."
For more information about Random Acts of Flowers Chicago, visit: chicago.randomactsofflowers.org .