Kindness
What is kindness? It is defined as the ‘quality of being friendly, generous and compassionate’. We are taught to be kind and caring as children and it's these qualities we need to keep in mind.
There are many ways to practise kindness, the most important being to take action. This blog post was actually inspired by the recent crisis in Afghanistan, with the Taliban capturing Kabul and the following havoc and attacks at Kabul airport as various countries try to evacuate their citizens. As a result, there has been an influx of refugees into many countries, the UK included and even in my local area. Among some, there is a sentiment of reluctance to help immigrants and refugees, as there are general concerns about overcrowding, employment etc and this was one of the factors that affected important events like the Brexit vote. However, it is important to remember our privilege and our ability, duty even, to help others that are less fortunate.
A lot of the time, situations like these can be daunting to process. You understand why it is wrong, even empathise with the victims, but how can you, a single person, make a difference in something that affects the whole world? Simple things can make a huge difference if enough people do it - if everyone donated even one or two tins of food, or an article of clothing to support refugees, it would make a huge difference on a massive scale. The most important thing is to do what you can - help out local food banks, donate to homeless shelters and charities who help.
Another thing that you can do is educate yourself. You may not be able to make a difference beyond donating or volunteering in your local community, but educating yourself on matters that don’t just affect you, but affect other people. Spreading awareness can help bring about change, especially in the age of social media.
Kindness is not only about what you do, but it's about developing a mindset of tolerance, compassion and positivity. You will never understand everyone’s situation, what they think, feel or who they identify as, but it is still important to be tolerant of everyone’s beliefs and personal identity. Unless they are causing harm to someone else, who they are is their business and personal choice. A mindset like this will not only make you see the world in a better light, but also yourself. Being kind to yourself and being kind to others are often very interlinked.
I hope my blog post today has inspired you to take some action, not only now, but whenever you can as there are always people in need of a little kindness. In my opinion, as a society we need to practise more tolerance and compassion for others instead of competition and pitting ourselves against each other. Even Darwin, the father of evolution who came up with the idea of natural competition and ‘survival of the fittest’ agreed that humans are inherently compassionate and cooperative, and this being the reason we evolved so differently from other species. It takes very little effort to make a huge change in someone’s life.
