Kind Is King
It's been an angry few days.
So let's shift perspective.
At base, I would think that the vast majority of us would choose kindness over malice. I don't want to think that there are many people out there that would move with the intention of hurting people. At least not specific people.
If you really think about it, on a day when you are out and about your day is probably filled with countless tiny little kindnesses. It can be something as small as smiling at a stranger when you walk past each other or saying thank you when someone lets you by with your cart in a grocery store. Maybe you let someone in when you were driving, maybe someone let you in and you gave the tiny wave in response.
I generally am not a big picture person, I tend to live very much in the moment (unless it's 3 am and there doesn't seem to be a lick of sleep coming my way). Not everyone is that way. I try to do good things because it just makes things easier. I am a lazy person by default and being mean takes a lot of effort.
I read a quote once that said something along the lines of "someone somewhere remembers you for a small kindness that you don't remember giving". I think that is close anyway, it gets to the sentiment. On some bad days, that idea helps a lot, that some stranger out there may have been impacted in some small way by something that I don't even remember doing.
Dr. Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, and Confucius all cared enough about being kind that they wrote about it.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Dr. Maya Angelou
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark Twain
"Act with kindness but do not expect gratitude." - Confucius
As a society, we get caught up in the "what's in it for me". That distracts you from doing things just because you can. The simplicity of helping or smiling or waiting just an extra minute is a pleasure all on its own.
The next time you get caught up, slow down. Do one kind thing. It can be a small thing, the impact it may have though will be much larger.
Music Corner
It has to be Lean On Me by Bill Withers. That is the only possible song for today.
Lean on me was written in 1972 and was first released on the album Still Bill. The song went on to be a number one single for both soul singles and at the top of the Billboard 100. It was also chosen as number 208 on the Rolling Stone list of 500 greatest songs of all time.
Inspired by his childhood spent in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, the song was written in Los Angeles on a little piano, and inspired by some homesickness.
Maybe we will talk about the Club Nouveau version on another day.
Shopping Corner
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