Kindness: A Priority in the Battle Against Violence
Tragedy can strike at any moment. Flames can consume whole neighborhoods, hurricanes can wipe out a city, Earthquakes can topple buildings with people inside. There’s even the occasional freak accident that can take the lives of unsuspecting people, but the kind of tragedy that haunts us the most is a human taking the lives of other humans. It’s truly something sinister that we have trouble wrapping our minds around every single time it happens.
Whenever an act of terror takes place we’re left with so many questions:
Who’s the person/people behind the attack?
What were their motives?
Did anyone know this was going to happen?
What needs to be done to prevent things like this from happening again?
Sadly, these questions are asked after lives have already been taken and many of us are left feeling powerless and simply cosigning on messages of “thoughts & prayers” by government officials, clergy, celebrities, and other people we might be following on social media. We might seek to raise much needed discussions on what we might be able to do through policy, but what else can be done to prevent these things from happening? Kindness.
Kindness, is not a simple solution, and I don’t feel completely comfortable presenting it as a one-stop shop for every problem in the world, but I do think it carries a lot of power; maybe a lot more power than we care to admit. It’s the kindness of others that often brings us to a place of feeling cared for and inspires us to treat others in the same way.
Imagine for a moment that we made kindness a priority. You wake up in the morning and send encouraging texts to whoever comes to mind. You step out of your home and acknowledge your neighbors waving hi and smiling at them. You continue to do this as you make your commute to school or work, mentioning people by name if you know it, reminding them that there are people out there who know them. At lunch, you schedule to eat with someone you don’t know too well. You exchange numbers and invite that person over to hang out with you and your friends later. You notice one of your friends can’t make it so you text him to make sure he’s okay. Before you leave the gathering you say bye to each and every person there. On your way home you come across a homeless man who asks you for money. You ask for his name and some background about his life. He thanks you for talking with him and you leave him with some cash. Before you go to bed you might say a prayer for everyone you came in contact with that day. You go to sleep hoping tomorrow is just as great of a day.
Something you might notice here is that kindness isn’t always a grand gesture. It can be small things too. Making people feel like they exist, that they’re alive, and they matter is the endgame of kindness. I think kindness stops people from doing evil things, or at least it has the power to. And if kindness is something we need to prioritize to see a world in where people aren’t killing other people, then it’s something that we need to demonstrate and teach our kids. It’s something we need to exemplify in our own lives with friends, neighbors, family, acquaintances, and strangers. It’s something we need to ask for from everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status, race, gender, class, etc. Kindness needs to be the new priority because kindness leaves little to no room for violence and we all could do with less violence in the world.
