Or so said Sydney Greenstreet to Peter Lorre in The Mask of Dimitrios. From what I can see, he was right…there’s not enough kindness in the world. No doubt there’s some kindness; the world’s not as bad as it could be, or even as it appears at times. Perhaps that’s because true kindness does not seek its own public reward. It’s the consolation for the one hurting, food for the one hungry, and care for those without hope. It’s the choice to smile instead of lashing out, to seek peace instead of fomenting strife, to regret one’s own shortcomings rather than to wallow in schadenfreude. There’s not enough kindness in the world, Mr. Leyden.
Nightriders
The Dark Man
Texas Dark
Konig’s Fire
- Konig's Fire is a 2011 Carol (ACFW Book of the Year) Award winner and a 2011 Christy Award nominee.
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Kindness can be relative sometimes depending on your perspective.
Consider the businessman (or woman, for the sake of discussion the male gender will be used). He goes and starts a business and has the choice of letting the business be big or small. If he keeps it small, he may hire one or two people, but in general will be able to handle things by himself. If he chooses to let it be bigger, then he could be considered a kind and generous man by offering the services of his business to more people and by creating jobs for others. The amount he chooses to give as payment to those working for him shows even more the value he places on the people that are helping him and reveals the amount of kindness he has.
Of course, another way to show kindness is to start an organization that helps feed people at prices they can afford like Angel Food Ministries (http://www.AngelFoodMinistries.com) does where they go through individual churches that join in with distribution and gives various packages of food around $30 that are worth $60 or more. And they accept Food Stamps with the EBT card too.
Or there’s just helping a neighbor out by taking care of her kids when she’s busy with something, or giving someone that doesn’t have a car a ride somewhere without charging them for gas, or giving money to someone when they are in need and not questioning them about it, or telling someone a good thing to encourage them when they are up against the wall, or just simply having a conversation with another person to just relax.
So many ways to show kindness, but it’s all based on our perspective.
Next time you think someone should treat you better, do something for them and be kind to them by thinking on what they are already doing for you that they don’t have to do. If you need a raise, don’t whine, just do the best job you can, after all, the boss doesn’t NEED to hire you. If you’re hungry, use your resources (phone, Internet, newspaper, church) and find what you need whether through the grocery store, the food bank, the church with food, or whatever. If you are in need, be kind to others; it does come around again, I assure you.
And if you need mental stimulation, read a book like The Dark Man or any of the other MLP titles because each of those authors were kind enough to write the stories for us and seek publication to get it to us, so we should be kind in return by purchasing and reading these tomes of wonder.
It’s just a matter of perspective.