Kindness Is the Greatest Virtue
By: Edie Tuck
Tags: Humanity, Kindness, Generosity, Love, Intentions

Every time we turn on the news, we’re bombarded with wave after wave of bad news, violence, tragedy, senseless crime. Social media is a never-ending thread of rants and complaints, hate speech and insult-spewing.

We need to take back humanity, and it all starts with kindness.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. We live in a society where we’ve been groomed from birth to be untrusting, distant, and unfriendly. Don’t look at people as they walk by. It’s rude to talk to strangers. Every man for himself. We’ve become so conditioned by our cold and unfeeling way of life that we no longer see it appropriate to interact with anyone we don’t know. I get the whole ‘stranger danger’ concept, but I mean, come on!

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” — Dalai Lama

’Tis the Season

This time of year, most of us are feeling a little more generous, and we’re more likely to perform random acts of kindness. But why do we wait until Christmas time? Do our actions mean more this time of year, or are they perceived as fake or selfish? If it’s genuine, then why do we only do it during the holidays?

I feel that some of us want to give the illusion of generosity and caring, only because it’s expected around the holidays. We want people to see us in a good light, and think highly of us. It’s self-serving, but we convince ourselves it’s not.

We need to re-evaluate our intentions.

Kindness and generosity are great qualities to have, however, we need to make sure that our reasons for being kind and generous are genuine. It’s not about being self-serving, and it shouldn’t be reserved for a two or three-week period of the year in December.

Selflessness is probably one of the most commendable qualities a human being can have. To give of oneself for the sake of giving; of caring, loving, helping. Not for outside gratification — even if it makes us feel good internally, we shouldn’t be looking for a pat on the shoulder for having done something good for another person.

We see it in children all of the time, but although the world is full of kind and generous souls, it seems as we grow older, a shift happens in our mentality and it starts to become more about ‘us’ than about ‘them’. As such, we’re stuck in a vicious never-ending cycle, teaching our children that this behaviour is normal and acceptable.

“First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.” — Brene Brown

Kindness for kindness’ sake

It isn’t difficult to be kind, but after being conditioned for so long, we need to re-learn the habit. It takes an open heart, and a real desire to ‘be the change’. It’s easy to spot a fake…so don’t be a fake!

Hold a door open for a stranger going in or out of a store, look them in the eyes and smile. Wish them a good day.

Let that mother with the rambunctious toddler to go ahead of you at the grocery store counter — odds are she’s frustrated and embarrassed by her child’s behaviour and wants nothing more than to disappear. We’ve all been that child at one time or another, and many of us have been that parent.

Tip that tired-looking waitress well, even if her service wasn’t stellar — she might be working double-time to put herself or her child through school and can barely muster up a smile after being on her feet for nine hours and awake for twice that long.