Kill Them With Kindness

With all the chaos and mass shooting occurring these days, I feel like it’s time to write about a human trait we sometimes forget about… kindness. Maybe it’s because I believe in karma, or the golden rule, or how my mom and dad raised me, but I see no point in being mean or rude to people. We’re taught from a young age we need to be nice to people and treat them the way we’d like to be treated. I feel like somewhere down the line we forget how simple a concept that is. We get so wrapped up in our heads and stress we forget to be nice to people. If someone is mean to us we focus our energy on a negative reaction. We act vengeful or hate the person. We throw physical and metaphorical punches. We forget that all humans share 99.99% of DNA. It’s the .01% that makes us all different. Why should we waste our time and energy tearing each other down when we are all the same? Why do we choose to hurt when we can choose to love? Rather than being vengeful and keeping hate in your heart, choose to kill people with kindness. I personally believe that’s better to hear that actually hearing and reading about all the people being killed these days.

It’s funny, really, if you think about it. Most of the time people don’t even know why they’re being mean. And if they are being mean to you, they probably won’t remember why in a few years. Maybe it’s a vicious cycle. Someone was bullied so they bully someone else. That person needs to feel powerful and needs to feel good about themselves so they take what little power they have to be mean to someone else. Isn’t that what we learned as children?

Let’s think about it from an adult perspective... maybe the person is having a terrible day. Maybe they just lost their job and their dad got diagnosed with cancer. Maybe the universe is putting obstacles in their way and they don’t know how to cope with all of it or they don’t yet have a handle on it. Maybe they are just a miserable person, maybe they’re just having a miserable day. You really never know what’s going on in someone’s life, and even when they begin to tell you that is still only a small glimpse into their life. You will never be able to fully understand a person as you’re not that person. Sometimes people don’t even understand themselves.

Sometimes, people are so hurt they don’t know how not to hurt those around them. It’s a vicious negative cycle whether your a child or an adult. But you have a choice. Your kindness has the power to change someone’s day. Your kindness could be all a person needs to be reminded life really is great. Sometimes the kindness of a stranger can restore all hope a person has lost. I’d be willing to bet most people reading this haven’t heard of Rachel Joy Scott. She’s not as popular as Anne Frank, but Rachel shared many of the same beliefs as she did. Now Rachel was not alive during the Holocaust, so her story is entirely different. She was a young Christian girl killed during the 1991 Columbine Shooting. She kept a journal and has become known for her kind words, thoughts, and actions. There is one story that I’m always reminded of when I think of her. Rachel, small in stature, stood up to High School bullies as they were picking on another student. What Rachel didn’t know was that student planned on killing himself later that day. He didn’t due to Rachel’s actions. Someone acknowledged him as a person and was kind to him. Rachel’s “random act of kindness” changed that boy’s life.

With all the craziness and chaos in the world today, remember you have a choice to make every day and with every person you encounter. You can be part of the negativity that’s taking over, or you can be a nice person. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can hurt forever. I know all the chaos in today’s world can’t be solved in a simple blog post about being kind. I’m not naive enough to think just being kind will solve these shootings. I’m not naive enough to believe all it takes is love and happiness. I know this world has more problems than a keyboard and a website could ever solve. But let’s start here. Let’s all be the change we want to see and continue trying to start a chain reaction of kindness.

#ChainReactionofKindness #kindess #positivityy #payitforward