Rambles- Kindness

Rambles are thoughts that pop up and say WRITE ME. They’re sometimes fragments, sometimes longer. Spur of the moment, and lightly edited they’re a look into what my brain is chewing on at that moment.

Kindness is one of the hardest things we do. Being kind is work. It can mean putting yourself last in the moment, so you can reach out to others. It can mean self sacrifice as you hand over food to someone who needs it more than you do in that moment. The most difficult part of all, it means you at times have to ignore someone’s asshole behavior at other times and do something that they need in that moment.

People like to say kindness doesn’t cost. Bullshit. It costs every time you ignore a personal need so you can reach out to help someone. Your car is dead? Well, I need to do this errand, but sure I can help out and give you a lift. In the opposite direction. While it’s snowing. Uphill. Both ways.

Bonus points if you’re able to do the thing without adding a passive aggressive response. Because that’s another thing. Swallowing down the moment of frustration because really, yes they’re an asshole. But you have a car and they don’t. And fuck it’s cold and snow. Because being kind and a bigger person.

More often than not, this is going on in the back brain of kind people. They’re just good at turning the noise off.

So yes, a kind person is going to give that jackass at work a ride home. Or give the rude neighbor down the street a cup of sugar. They’ll give a homeless person a gift card to the local C store and forget about.

They’ll help the racist jerk two doors down when he’s about to have a pile of wood land on his head. Then nod and walk off, leaving neighbor baffled. Because that’s the thing about true kindness, it’s given to anyone who needs it. Which confuses the heck out of people.

Kindness isn’t earned. You don’t get kindness based on race or ethnicity. It’s given. It’s given with a full understanding that who you give it to could be a rat bastard. It’s given with no strings attached.

It’s given because we all deserve kindness. Period. It’s given because one interaction at a time, kindness changes how others look at the world. It’s given with a hope that down the road, it will get paid forward.

Hope. Not obligation.

It’s given because it’s a gift that you always carry with you.