A little kindness goes a long way.
For years I have been teaching my martial arts students that it is our responsibility to perform random acts of kindness to others. I even went as far as making it a rank requirement. If a student is a white belt, they are required to do one random act of kindness for someone else. A yellow belt is required to do two acts of kindness with every increased rank adding another act of kindness.
An act of kindness is any little thing you could do to bring a smile to someone else. It could be holding the door open for someone, saying “Thank you”, making eye contact, picking up something that someone dropped, even just saying ”Hello” etc. The list of things we could do is endless, simple and very easy as long as we are aware that we should be doing it.
Unfortunately we have recently been programmed to stay away from others with social distancing and tending to our own needs. Of course, I understand why, however, we could still spread a little kindness along the way. It has to happen to counter all the negativity out there.
When I was hiking through the North East last with my brother, we would come across an array of people on the trails. Some were very cordial, sharing words of encouragement, keeping our distance, making light conversation and being kind. Others would not even make eye contact, jump off the side of the trail as if we had the plague. We didn’t take it personal though I felt it was a bit excessive. Fact is, you could still say “Hello”. I said to my brother it must have been because he smelled so bad. 🙂
I hope as a society we will be able to get back to doing nice things for others as we did in the past. It is essential for others who may need a little happiness in their world and for us because we feel better when we help others.
Please, please, please do what you can to bring a little brightness in the somewhat challenging world we live in now.
