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Kindness seems to be a word that is alien to many people. With roadrage and other kinds of anger emerging, people are walking on eggshells with pretty short fuses. It is easy to break down and be "unkind" in this stressful time we live in. This is a story I read today that made me stop and think.
"Today an unknown caller called my phone and instead of being kind, with the normal every day stress and wear and tear, I answered in a not so nice sort of way with a rather gruff "hello". The female on the other end said, "Who is this?" I said back sort of sharply, "You're calling my phone, who is this?" I wasn't nice, much was going on at that exact moment with the daily grind of work and people handing me things to sign or asking me questions. The female responded with a not so nice, "Go to.________" and hung up. Two minutes later she called back. I had had two minutes to think that I could have handled that better. In a very calm voice I simply said, "I'm so very sorry, you actually do have the wrong number." The female didn't say a word, but hung up, obviously she had been expecting me to yell at her. Truth is, I didn't know her. It only took a few seconds to be kind. And the anger evaporated.
The entire perspective of "paying it forward" suddenly dawned on me, but no one had paid me. I was simply the one who was going to start it. I began to zero in on the people around me. I smiled at them for no reason. I said "Have a good day." to the lady in the toll booth who looked bored and I brought a smile to her face by meaning it. It's just coming outside of yourself to see that others are hurting and stressed as well as you and they need a smile, a comforting word or just a pat on the back. Small kindnesses add up. I believe it takes more energy to be cruel and kinder gets a better response.
As my mother used to say, 'You catch a lot more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.' "
After reading this, I realized that I too need to pay it forward and in this case it will start with me. Just a simple act of kindness, one a day (at least) every day and pretty soon the frown furrows will turn to smile lines.
