Kindness is: “a behavior marked by ethical characteristics, a pleasant disposition, and a concern for others,” according to Wikipedia. It implies that other people matter as much as we do to ourselves. It indicates that we are not alone on the Big Blue Marble and that what affects one of us, impacts all of us.
Kindness is both energetic and interactive. A verb and adjective. We can send kind thoughts to anyone at every moment. It can be as simple as opening a door for someone else or as labor intensive as painting a room for a stranger.
It begins in the home and expands into the community. Multi-generational lessons about consideration have shaped my values. I witnessed my parents engaging in caring activities, such as going grocery shopping for neighbors, delivering meals for people in our congregation when they were ill or someone close to them had died. I marveled at the various volunteering gigs they had at our local hospital and fire house. Even in their waning years, they helped at their community center. My father (plumped up with pillows under a red suit) was a fine Jewish Santa and both helped at the Easter egg hunt. Religion mattered not in those cases.
Continue reading PLEASE this is one of the most uplifting posts I have read for a while. I hope that it lifts you as much as it did me.
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