No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. ~ Aesop

Level Down Your Kindness

I’ve been quiet on here for a good reason, life has been complex and difficult recently. I was standing in the hall at school this past week and a faculty member I like mentioned he hadn’t seen me in a while and asked if everything was ok. Things most certainly are not ok right now and I proceeded to tell him what was going on with my parent’s health and the whole process of getting everything together as my mother goes through the end of her life. We talked for another minute and I entered the restroom nearby and as I did, a student who must of overheard our conversation came up to me and expressed his sympathy for what was happening with my family and wished me well. This student was an absolute stranger to me and what he did was very kind.

This interaction has had me thinking for days. First, on the level of how kind people can be when you’re going through something significant. Us humans are great at supporting each other when the big things happen. As my mother is dying, my father struggling, when I went through my open heart surgery six months ago, people have been great around all of these things.

The other thought I had though, was how that is completely at odds with how people are on a day to day basis. What I’ve observed over my life is that people seem to have become increasingly self-centered and nearly oblivious to the needs of others. So while it’s great that we are kind to each other when the big things happen, it’s time we all start to level down our kindness. Sure, at the upper level when things are significant we should be kind, but we need to level that down to the more ordinary day to day interactions in life as well. We need to be kinder to each other all of the time. A quote we all know:

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle ~ Ian MacLaren

The quote sums it up well and there will happier days for all of us if we can be just a little kinder to each other. ~ Rev Kane