Yesterday was ‘World Kindness Day’ – something that I have frankly never heard of before. Have you?
So when Rebecca, my colleague sent me a ‘Thank You’ email for several things including my ‘general niceness’, I couldn’t help but ponder about why we don’t do this more often.
I think kindness is a very under-estimated and rather ignored virtue. I don’t hear people teaching their children to be kindhearted, neither is it ever mentioned as one of the top-ranking aspirational values. If you ask anyone about what is a trait that they’re really proud of – I think you will be surprised to hear that kindness will hardly make the list.
Because we’re all in a rut here, aren’t we?
The ceaseless rat-race of trying to get ahead of one another, do better than the previous time, make someone look bad or maybe just get through the day! Where is the time to open the door for someone, pick up sheets of paper that a co-worker might have dropped, help an elderly person or a child cross the road, leave a bowl of water outside for animals on a hot day or pick up the trash that someone else left behind?
Since a day has been created to celebrate acts of kindness, I’d like to think about the numerous opportunities when a little effort has brightened my day – and be thankful to have some people who still believe in the goodness.
I have also learned today that an organisation by the name of ‘The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation’ exists, and they ask that we list down a couple of kind things that we have been a part of – to act as inspiration, and so that we remember to do them more often.
I would hate to have to try and recall each instance and then write them down – so I’m going through them in my head and reminding myself to do them more often.
Today, let someone with a baby or a dog get into the metro before you, spend a couple of minutes talking to the security guard in your building and ask him his name, give way to a car or even tell someone that he/she is beautiful maybe?
I promise it will make you feel good.