A Drop Of Kindness

There are all kinds of quotes, poems, songs, and images produced around what even a drop of kindness can do. This morning I was thinking about someone who was given an opportunity to show a little kindness, but didn’t. I have to say my reaction and my neighbor’s reaction was not kind either. I am sure that this is not the first time I have had the opportunity to show a little kindness and I didn’t. I am also pretty sure it wasn’t the first time for the woman who wouldn’t move her pick up so the movers could be close to our neighbors front door.

I am not dwelling on her actions or my poor reaction except to remind myself that kindness is different from indifference. It won’t be the last act of unkindness I will encounter, nor will it be the last time I react unkindly either. Kindness takes action albeit it only a small action many of the times, and it takes effort. Often to be kind we must overcome prejudices, betrayals, rudeness, or unkindness visited upon us. It takes practice and a mindset.

To be kind to the person who wasn’t kind to my neighbor and the moving men required me to let go of a few things — being self-righteous and being judgmental, for example. To be kind I am not asked to be a saint, blameless, or even a better person. I simply must make the effort.

I want to be a kind person, and my experience with the woman who wouldn’t move her truck teaches me not to worry so much about her, but to worry and work on myself.

 

 

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.

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