Kindness Matters

Time after time, throughout our history we have witnessed our nation’s citizens come together to help one another in times of desperation, catastrophe and natural disaster. In the midst of mayhem, we see one human quality repeatedly stand out, and that is “kindness”.  When the flood waters threaten or the fire and fury of nature seek to destroy, we fellow Americans always rise to the occasion and display basic generosity and concern for total strangers. In some cases, we even risk our own lives to help someone we have never met. In each and every disaster, we highlight and laud the phenomenon of selfless heroism and all of us feel inspired to do better, to be better human beings, to be kind to one another.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the national swell of kindness, we have a very short attention span. As soon as the flood waters recede and the ashes are swept away, we naturally retreat into our self-protection zones.

The question is, “why do we do this?” Why do we so easily lose sight of our humanity? During low-tide so to speak, we prefer to draw lines in the sand, choose sides and defy the opposition to step across. As we all have been witnessing over the past two years, during political upheaval, kindness and civility often take a back seat to divisiveness and tribalism.

It’s interesting to note during derisive times, political leaders often say “America, this is not who we are, we are better than this.” But are we? If we are so easily persuaded to hate and demean those who disagree with us, are we truly better than our current state would suggest? In other words, if our American depth of character only surfaces when disaster strikes, maybe the truth is, we are still so relatively young as a nation, we don’t know exactly who we are yet and what kind of people we really want to be.

If being “great again” doesn’t include basic human virtues like kindness, compassion and generosity for our fellow man and these qualities are not part of the overall narrative, what is the real story?

I believe the answers to these questions lie in each individual’s heart. Until you and I decide what it means to “love they neighbor as thyself” and seek to express it every day through little acts of kindness, America will continue to be bipolar in its civility.

If our country’s story is going to change, each of us must be willing to write our own daily narrative filled with small, selfless gestures.

A smile to the stranger across the street, opening the door for the person in front of you, taking out the trash for your elderly neighbor, while these may feel like insignificant things to you, the recipient of your little act of kindness may have his or her whole day brightened.

So I would encourage us all, whether liberal or conservative, religious or non-theistic, native or immigrants . . . above all, let us choose to simply be kind to one another.

The Zen Den

Hello and welcome to The Zen Den. My name is Alison and while I am passionate about many things, my most inspiring driving force is human connection. Blogger, content writer, orthopedic exercise specialist, motivational speaker, international yoga pro, published songwriter, avid poker player, mom and wife are just a few of my titles. But when I do my job at NASA, I am known simply as “The Fairy Zenmother” a role I deeply love because people invite me into their space to help them find their center, relax and stretch their muscles and destress their mind. Here in the blogosphere version of The Zen Den, I invite you into my world where I will explore ideas for creating a better tomorrow and a kinder today. And hopefully, with insight, authenticity and humor; my words, observations and experiences will help you feel calm, centered, intellectually challenged and spiritually enlightened. Alternatively, if you have something you would like to see covered in The Zen Den, just let me know. Your feedback is welcome and valuable to the success of this blog. Finally, my heart is filled with gratitude to have this opportunity to share with all of you.