Kindness: Gather Some Perspective

Let me ask you a question.

What would you respond to better as a human being, kindness or criticism?

The answer may be obvious, but why then are we always so cruel to one another? Why do we not treat others as we would like to be treated?

A lot of times we may think our criticisms are constructive, but I feel at times this may do more harm than good. There is such a thing as tough love, but I feel like there is a line that we too often cross. We can rebuke one another with kindness, in a way the other knows we care for them and their best interest.

Kindness and encouragement, I have found, do much more for people than any other alternative.
When we seek to build one another up, selflessly, people flourish and, usually, the loving kindness is reciprocated. On the flipside, when we criticize each other, people are left to wither and their talent is wasted. I wonder how many people could have changed the world for better, until someone shot them down..

We are all too quick to judge. It comes easier than the alternate because I believe we look for other's flaws instead of their qualities. We eagerly await them to fail so we can point out how they failed and bring them to our level.

We do not know what others are going through at any given time. We should know each other better than we do, but we never take the time to dig deep with one another. We often times keep one another at arm's length because we fear what others will think about us. We look at others with a skewed lense because it makes us feel better about how awful we are as people most of the time.

We instead need to shift our focus to the good in each other. If we all do this; magic happens. The impossible becomes possible. We serve to help each other succeed and, therefore, everyone ends up succeeding in their own ways for the betterment of humanity.

Lastly, it is said that kindness leads to repentance. One of the hardest things to do is to forgive someone who has wronged us. I believe choosing to love our enemy (someone who has wronged us in some way), is the best route to repentance and reconciliation from said enemy.

'But I do not want to be reconciled to my enemy!' you may say.

I say, 'Life is too short to remain in contention with one another.'

Be the better person, swallow your pride, and humbly return your enemy's attacks with love. You will be amazed the effect this has on someone. After all, our enemy is most likely hurting worse than we are and are just acting out of their own hurt.

We are all hurting in one way or another, just like the next person.

If we choose to take the time to really know one another; we will learn we are more alike than we thought. It is time consuming, yes, but the deep relationships we could forge will make it worth the effort in the long run.

Let us all choose to love one another with long suffering in the hope that we will all help one another live the best lives we have to the, yet unrealized, potential we have to live.