Not-so-Random Kindness

“You’re so nice.” People throw that phrase around so much. Nice. What is that?

The thesaurus assures me that “nice” is a synonym of “kind,” but I wonder. Nice is such a bland word that we use to describe things that are less than awesome or great or fantastic. Honestly, I’d rather be described as a curmudgeon before I’m described as nice.

At least if you say, “She is such a curmudgeon,” people will want to know why! If you say, “oh, she’s nice,” people blink and move on to the next conversation topic.

But kindness. She is kindness.

I wonder what true kindness is because I so rarely see it. The Random Acts of Kindness foundation encourages doing thoughtful and kind things for people. It’s as simple as smiling at ten strangers one day to shoveling your neighbor’s driveway.

The antonym to kindness is cruelty.

So to be kind, you mustn’t be cruel. Kindness is exhibited with action or favor. Synonyms include generous, benevolent, and compassionate.

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I don’t feel qualified to write about kindness.

What makes a person kind? Is it their random acts of kindness? Is it their ability to see people clearly and be sweet to them despite what they see? Is it action? Or is it where that action springs from deep within?

You can do kind things, but does that make you kind? We all know people who do good things just to be seen doing those good things. Maybe some of those people mean to inspire others into action as well, but the act becomes a performance. Does the good work lose its meaning when it’s a performance?

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A truly kind person does not need to be reminded to be kind. They just are. It’s a natural extension of themselves. They don’t need the Random Acts of Kindness campaign (even though it’s a great thing!) to help them be kind. They just are kind.

To the God of Intentional Kindnesses,

When my ears and eyes tire of witnessing cruelty and brutality, keep reminding me that there is still kindness in my fellow earth dwellers—that we can choose to be intentional with our kindness to one another.

Help me to choose kindness.

Kindness has been relegated to random because it is rare. Shape me into a person that spills kindness extravagantly as I tumble over the road ruts—that even as I sit in a pothole, I lift others past the broken pavement of life. Clear my vision so I can see that kindness to others is self-kindness.

Help me to not only actively show kindness, but to truly be kind.

With sincerity,

A humble and often unkind earth dweller

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