Random Acts of Kindness! If I can help somebody (song?)! A smile in greeting! A friendly Hello! A warm Hug! A Helping Hand! A caring phone call! Listen! Teaching! Sharing!
Kindness seems to be all around us! And yet do we feel it? Are we actively pursuing? Is it real?
I am a student of human behavior and I listen to folks with regrets over what has been done often enough and sometimes regret over something not done! I have embraced the theory that remorse over something not done, evaded, ignored, delayed, or simply put aside for a myriad of reasons is more damaging to our self esteem and self worth than most regrets for having done something wrong! Anyone else have that feeling? We can seek forgiveness successfully for wrongful acts but opportunities for kindness missed stay with us for seemingly eons of time. Do it now; He who hesitates is lost!; Yet fools rush in where wise men fear to tread! (oxymoron?) Bogged down with all these epithets that interfere with Random Act of Kindness? Press on.
The song that includes If I Can Help Somebody! is poignant to our theme today of Kindness as a Verb. How many people can I really help? How can I help somebody? Who is somebody? I am reminded of even more epithets: I wondered why somebody didn’t do something, then I remembered I am somebody! If it is to be, it is up to me! If you expect it, then it is up to you to check on it! The hurrier I go the more behind I get! Do it now! (After due consideration of course).
I’d walk a mile for a smile! (Where did that come from?) My aunt once told about a young lady who seemed always to smile and beam at folks, she spread a feeling of good will and comfort wherever she attended functions and in public places. Then one day my aunt was picking her up for an event and in the “smiler’s” home the smiler commented that (I must remember to smile and greet kindly and warmly folks today. My aunt was appalled at such ‘action’ from her friend as needing reminders for this seemingly normal activity. My aunt adopted an rather cynical attitude of her friend after that, now 60 years later I still don’t understand the problem my aunt perceived–I still think self pep talks are valuable to keep us focused and to assure good habits are reinforced. Consider a habit cannot be removed or dropped, only replaced! scary!
A friendly Hello! A warm Hug! A Helping Hand! A caring phone call! Listen! Teaching! Sharing! Ah! The joy we gather when we practice these basic human interchanges freely and with practiced loving interaction; and never “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!” Keep on smiling!