Kindness

How disappointing. February 8 to 14 was Random Acts of Kindness Week and I failed to see it on the calendar before the 19^th. Darn it, I missed an opportunity, perhaps countless opportunities, yea, an entire week’s worth of opportunities, to be kind.

But wait. Is kindness, like Christmas, restricted to a specific date? Maybe it should be sad that a week in February must be dedicated to a trait that is born in every human child. After all, I know lots of kind people. In fact, I know more kind people than unkind ones—and I bet everyone else, does, too.

We are told that the world is a dark and bad and scary place, and sometimes it is, but why is it that we only hear about the dark and bad and scary things? Why do we allow what we hear to colour what we see and what we feel? Why did I, on noticing that I had missed Random Acts of Kindness Week, experience a twinge of the negative by having missed my chance to be who I am by nature?

Geez, Ru. Kindness, like Christmas, can be practiced every day—and it should be. Starting with ourselves. Too few of us treat ourselves with kindness, but isn’t that the best place for us to begin? Like an artist honing his craft by painting self-portraits, the art of kindness can be mastered by starting with the face in the mirror. You don’t need a specific date on which to begin, either. You can start right now.

With love,