About a month ago, I joined the group 'Bloggers Unite' on Blog Catalog. The main reason I joined was because I had heard the amazing results from the previous 'Bloggers Unite' day. This one is for an act of kindness. Now for me, doing something kind for some one, is an everyday occurrence. Whether it be the simple act of opening a door for someone coming out or going into a coffee shop, or something more notable.Today, was a little different then most. This morning when I went into the coffee shop to get my morning coffee, there was hardly any body there and not very many people to open a door for. I thought that was a little odd, but understandable considering the large amount of snow the heavens dumped on us. So I thought maybe there might be something nice I could do for one of my co-workers, not much I could do there either, because it seemed like everyone was working against me on this one act of kindness. And then, after I had managed to pull my car into my driveway, I noticed that my neighbour was stuck in the snow. I offered to give him a push to get out of the snow, but he politely refused my help.
No what this day has taught me, is that, an act of kindness should be spontaneous and not forced. Granted that on one day, thousands of people doing something kind for their fellow member of the species on paper is definitely a spectacle deserving air time on the big news networks. But when you have to force yourself to be kind, I think that says something about our society. What is it about being kind that so many of us find so hard to do? Are we just to busy to notice that some one could use just a little help?
In today's on demand world, we end up walking around with blinders on. We only see what we have in front of us, no one has time to stop and smell the flowers any more. Opportunities to commit simple acts of kindness, which can have many benefits, fall in the gutter as we putter around worrying about number one. You don't lose that much time by helping another, or do you? Personally it is worrying that going into the Holiday season, so many people who deserve the small acts of kindness that make so much of a difference will end up getting stepped on.
In conclusion, it is far better to take an extra second or two to open the door for a stranger than to force oneself to commit an act of kindness. Just one act of kindness is good, but think about what we could accomplish if everyone took that extra minute or two they find in the day to help some one out. If we have to force our self to be kind for a day just to have a topic to blog about what kind of race have we become? Even though its the survival of the fittest, we are now living in much different times than we were even twenty years ago. We are all supposed to be civilized, but at times we all fail to show our civility to our fellow man. Its not just supposed to be one day to make a difference when you talk about being kind, its more of an on going process that we all must work towards. We can accomplish great things if we all just get along! So the next time you have an opportunity to be kind, don't miss it because you're wrapped up in the every hustle and bustle of life, take it because you just might make a difference.
2 comments:
Good post. I could not for the life of me think of a way to write about this without tooting my own horn or making it too generic. I think you managed very well on both counts.
Alan
And you're quite right, there are so many things the average person does every day that might COUNT as an act of kindness, but how often do we think about it? And why bother talking about it?
I think having the actual "day" sort of ups the ante on the type of act of kindness that makes it seem worth talking about. It's a strange situation, which you handled very well.
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