Kindness

Gun's Quote-of-the-Week:

“Be known for lifting spirits, not for dashing dreams.”
-LLIC 2006

There seems to be a real lack of kindness in the world today. Perhaps it’s just me, but it seems as though so many of the people I have come across recently are grouchy, irritable and just plain mean.

I’m sure that has a lot to do with simply where people are at right now. Many are still trying to find jobs. Ironically, many others are working long days and even longer weeks because their companies aren’t willing to hire anyone else because they are still dealing with smaller margins and lower profits. The only way some of these firms can survive is by working their employees to death and not hiring anyone else that could suck money out of the payroll account.

Even I have noticed that I have become crass. I’m not at all happy about the state of cleanliness of my house. I haven’t been home to clean it because I have worked long hours, and oh by the way my “honey-do” list has been ever-expanding since January with many of the home repairs I wanted done by now that I haven’t even started yet. It’s frustrating.

So dealing with all of the grumpiness hasn’t been fun. I just want to do my job, take care of the promises I have made and deal with my own personal junk so that my plate doesn’t get too full. Apparently I’m audacious enough to think that I should be able to do all of these things without getting yelled at.

Then, all of this stress simply melted away into nothing. Why? Because on Wednesday morning I was greeted at the gym at 5:30 (that’s AM) by three former teens in the youthgroup I mentor. They had a camera and decided to do an impromptu interview right on the spot, gym shorts, cut-offs and all. It was hilarious.

…and it made my day. To know that I was loved enough to warrant three teens showing up at the crack of dawn to do something ridiculous like that was just awesome. I couldn’t help but walk around with a smile for the rest of the day.

I don’t think it far-fetched to believe that all of us have some stress going on in life right now. I think it even less far-fetched to believe that kindness is a problem in our lives; either we aren’t happy with how someone is treating us or we, ourselves, are having issues treating others kindly. I would challenge you this week to really focus on that. Give out a compliment. Encourage. Empower. Do this even to those you really don’t care for. We are all fighting battles in life and if we try to build up instead of tear down then maybe we all can enjoy life just that much more.

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!