Kindness

Kindness.

Kindness speaks volumes.

Kindness is sitting next to or talking to the person that nobody else does.

Kindness is doing something nice for someone without expecting anything back.

Kindness is assuming the best, even if it looks like the worst situation.

Kindness is free. Be kind.

I am reminded of how important kindness is when I’m on the losing end of it. In a work setting, I identified a problem and a solution to a group of people. (Because my mother always said that identifying a problem without a solution is called complaining – so true!) One person out of the group, who just happened to be in a leadership role, decided that my solution was trash and berated me for the whole group to witness. Something along the lines of ‘How dare you suggest that you create more work for others? What are you going to do about it?? This will not work in any shape or form!’, but much, much more extensive. Except this person did not completely understand my solution and assumed that I just wanted to make others work and not take any responsibility. Absolutely not the case. I could have been clearer of the group effort I would have liked to see take place. But no, after being humiliated, I simply hung my head and accepted the fact that my opinion did not matter in this case. I was low on the totem pole.

It’s not fair that people with power abuse their privileges. I make a special effort to show kindness to anyone I work with. Every single person has value. And needs to know how they are appreciated. Notice those are two separate sentences. We need to lift each other up in case we question ourselves.

We also try, try, and try some more to teach kindness at home. Unfortunately, our natural tendency is selfishness. Kids will fight and scream at each other all day long, but need to be told to be kind. My son’s first full sentence was “She pushed me!” I found one way to start: on the drive to school one day, I told each child to say something nice to each other. It was the quietest ride to school EVER!! Also one of the most disappointing. We have since practiced this more often and thankfully gotten a little better at showing kindness. I’d love to see you reply with your ideas of how to show kindness (click on this post from the Home page and scroll to the bottom).