A Little Thing Called Kindness

There is something largely missing from our world today. It is still to be found here and there, usually when least expected, and it is very catchy when practiced habitually and with sincerity. It is not praise, although praise can accompany it when appropriate. It is not flattery, which is so often artificial and practiced for selfish motives. It is not “tolerance” as that word is known today, although it is tolerant in the correct sense of the word. No, what is missing in today’s world is a little thing called kindness. There are many kind people, but our TV culture is stifling kindness.

The human heart is a sensitive thing. It warms to kindness and is wounded by unsympathetic or cruel words, even when such words are intended to be in jest. Who amongst us has not been met with such unkind words, said in jest, but with a sharp thorn hidden within that pierces our sensibilities? How many times when we have made a point, one more obvious than it appeared before it was spoken, have we been met with a patronizing look and a mocking “Duh…!” sent our way in the name of humor? How often when we have spoken seriously have we received the contemptuous reply of “Whatever…”? How often are really cruel words spoken in the name of humor! This is not humorous – is it funny to crush and wound a human heart? Is belittling a fellow person and making him appear foolish in his own eyes and those of others anything to joke about? Certainly not! And yet this caricature of humor is constantly shown in television programming and practiced habitually by the dupes of Hollywood. It is corrupting our society, which at one time was known for its kindness of word and deed.

There are good people who speak kindly to those they meet, but who abandon kindness when speaking about public persons. Are those in the public eye not entitled to kindness? We may disagree with their positions, we may oppose what they stand for, but can we not make that known without descending to unkind and derogatory words? The current political race is a case in point. What must God think of the lack of charity that has gripped this country in the name of politics? Certainly it is charity to expose the moral danger a candidate may constitute, but this is often done with such execration and obvious ill-will that the original good intention is lost in the flood of odium. This is not right. We are called to be followers of Christ, “Who when He was reviled did not revile…” (1 Peter 2:23)

I say that kindness is a “little” thing, because it costs us so little to practice it. But it is a great thing in that when practiced it makes the world a much better place. How many wounded hearts would be healed by a dose of kindness and compassion! How many troubled minds and emotionally destroyed souls would have been spared the anguish of their trial had they only been treated with kindness and spared the cruel and cutting words that crushed them! We can make a difference in lives by practicing kindness. It costs so little to smile at others and speak kindly to them. Yes, there are times when this involves self-sacrifice; but if we make the Golden Rule our own, and do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we will find that the self-sacrifice involved is well worth the effort. Kindness begets kindness and makes a better and happier society.