My mother was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. One
day my oldest sister came home and told her how the kids at school had teased
her and said mean things. She expected my mom to tell her how sorry she was,
and talk about how mean and wicked those children had been. Instead, my mom
responded, “Oh sweetie, now you know what that feels like. I hope you never
treat anyone that way.”
I have a general rule in my life that I’m not allowed to
read the comments on any article or blog post online, because inevitably I end
up feeling ill at how angry and mean people can be. While I tell myself over
and over again NOT to click on things, I sometimes don’t listen to my inner
warnings and end up regretting it. A popular singer recently released a music
video that desecrated several things that I consider sacred. I should not have
read the interview he gave after it came out, because it made me angry, and
then incredibly sad. Sad mostly because I felt his logic was flawed: he said he
did it to try and protest some things he doesn’t agree with, but history has
shown over and over again that hatred never solves anything. It never brings
about change. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do
that." While I don’t deny his right to disagree, to be angry, and to make
his opinion known, hatred only breeds more hatred.
I have an overly simplistic view on life, but I believe that
aside from making the best choices I possibly can in my own life, the only
thing I have to do is love people. We don’t make it easy. We are difficult creatures.
(To the person who was going 60 mph and then sped up to 95 when we finally made
it to a passing lane . . . grr.) However, it is always worth it! We will never
regret being too kind. Henry James said, “Three things in human life are
important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is
to be kind.”
The fact of the matter is, we will never have the full story
on someone’s life, and therefore we should never pass judgment on the way they
are acting. It is so much easier to respond with anger, with irritation, with
sarcasm. It takes an incredible amount of discipline and character to respond with
kindness, but I believe so many of the problems we are currently facing as a
society would be solved if we would do as JM Barrie counseled, and, “Always be
a little kinder than necessary.”
