Kindness

(picture found here. Kind of a groovy article accompanying the picture as well.)

I’ve written about Kindness before. It is the virtue that resonates most deeply with me, because I feel like if more people were more kind more of the time, many of the world’s problems would disappear.

If we were more kind to strangers, we would have many fewer problems like road rage and fights in bars.

If we were more kind to children, we would raise more kind, thoughtful adults.

If we were more kind to our families, we would have more harmony and laughter at home.

If we were more kind to ourselves, we would have more peace in our hearts.

If we were more kind in our policies, both domestic and foreign, we wouldn’t have to worry about starvation and war. Or poverty and lack of health coverage. Or crappy schools.

If we were more kind to those who have less power than us, there would be better working conditions, more equatable distribution of wealth, and a more just society.

If we were more kind to farm animals, our food supply would be safer, tastier, and healthier.

If we were more kind to our Earth, we wouldn’t have to worry about environmental problems.

Adopting kindness in all actions, by all of us together, would bring us to a world much better than the one we currently have. Sadly, while all things are possible, the possibility of this seems far outside the realm of probability.

“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind.” ~ Henry James

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Updated to add that I received a random act of kindness yesterday, which I’m going to share with you. When I was in Alaska in February, I went way over my usual minutes on my cell phone, and you all know how much that can hurt. Yeah, about $250 worth. Ouch. Figuring that March would be another month of many phone calls, I went online and changed my plan to include more minutes, which I thought was effective immediately. Nope. Not effective until the next billing cycle, which is in April. So, I went way over again. Got the bill yesterday, for almost $200! ACK! Not where I want to be spending money right now. So I called their customer service, and the kind customer service rep listened to my sob story, and deducted all of the extra charges! Yay! Thank you Devon at T-Mobile in Oregon! You rock! And I hope your mom’s fibromyalgia is healed very soon. My mother in law swears by yoga to keep hers at least under control.