The Ripple Effect of Kindness
There is much that is missing from today’s culture. Just to mention four things off the top of my head. How about honesty, morality, empathy, respect. Imagine what the world would look like if any of those four was lived out in any greater measure than seems to be present today. Now allow me to add a fifth: kindness. A little does of kindness goes a long way.
I am of the opinion that kindness is one of the most important virtues that a person can have. Someone calling me kind is a high compliment. Kindness can be defined as being considerate of another’s feelings. It is generous. It is friendly. It is going out of our way to help someone else. Kindness often creates a cycle of kindness, with others wanting to pay forward the kindness they received. A little dose of kindness goes a long way. It has a ripple effect.
Ralph Waldo Emerson understood this pay it forward mentality. In his essay titled “Compensation,” he wrote – “In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody. Beware of too much good staying in your hand. It will fast corrupt and worm worms. Pay it away quickly in some sort.”
Woody Hayes, the legendary football coach at The Ohio State University, regularly misquoted Emerson but delivered a similar message – “You can never pay back but you can always pay forward.”
A dose of kindness, even a little dose, would begin to heal much of the world’s wounds. Kindness is possible even amid disagreement. It is respecting another person despite differences we might have with them. Kindness is walking out the proverbial Golden Rule. It is Jesus who first initiated this idea – “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
The Bible has much to say about kindness. Repeatedly, God is called kind and compassionate. Kindness is one of the “fruit” qualities found in Galatians 5:22 that should exude from those who call themselves Jesus-followers. Similarly, it is one of the virtues (Colossians 3:12-14) we are called to the clothed in when putting on our new self that comes from being joined with Jesus. Love is patient, it is kind. Kindness of words is delicious, healthy and healing: “Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body” (Proverbs 16:24, NLT).
Throughout the millennia, there continues to be ongoing debate as to whether or not we are born kind. Regardless of whether humans are born with kindness genes, kindness is a learned behavior. We learn from, and emulate, those we watch. Kindness can be(come) a chosen response.
Take a minute and ask yourself this simple question – who can I be kinder to? When we are kind, we help make the world a better place. A little dose of kindness goes a long way. It gets paid forward. It has a ripple effect.
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