Over the last several months, I have been afforded a variety
of opportunities to learn more about myself and how I interact with other
people. There are some fairly simple, fundamental truths I constantly attempt
to put into practice daily. Sometimes it is more difficult than at other times,
but if we could all practice the most basic principle we learn growing up,
imagine what a better world we would help shape.
Em and Ella have each experienced conflict at school lately.
It seems each of my girls has been faced with a bully of a classmate. When I
pick them up after school, I listen to stories about recess play gone awry –
degraded into name calling and petty meanness.
Before I begin to wax philosophical, let me say this: I am
not one of those parents who believe that my daughters are saintly or should be
considered as candidates for canonization. I know that they are not always on
their best behavior, and I know that they are not always polite. I know they
don’t always speak with kindness or act selflessly. Thankfully, they are
children and I have time to help shape and mold their characters.
By the way, I am not perfect either. However, I do attempt
to be an example for my daughters when it comes to treating others with
kindness, compassion, understanding and unconditional love. While I might be
idealistic, I don’t think it hurts to smile at someone even when I am having a
bad day.
When I hear my girls talking about other kids that have been
unkind, I emphasize that the people who are not nice are often the ones most in
need of random acts of kindness. After all, most of us treat other people the
way we been and have learned to treat others.
As children, if we grow up in a home where we aren’t hugged,
loved and nurtured how would we know how to treat other people with kindness
and compassion?
We wouldn’t.
Bullying of any kind is absolutely unacceptable; yet I
imagine that kids who bully other kids are probably victims of bullying
themselves. Most kids are not inherently mean-spirited. They are taught that
behaving in this way is ‘normal’ somewhere along the line. It seems to me,
then, that the best way to combat unkindness is to shower one with love and
understanding.
I’m sure this all sounds like hippie-dippy, tree-hugging,
leftist rhetoric, but I think my thoughts have some merit and I would challenge
my readers out there to give kindness a chance. What is the worst that can
happen? Put a little love out there and, hmmm, you might get a little love in
return?
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes
are truly endless.” ― Mother Teresa
