Whatever happened to kindness?

Remember how in elementary school, kindness was a common theme? We heard our teachers use the word on a daily basis, we saw it posted around the halls as we walked to lunch. Not only were we aware of the word, but we practiced it. We saved spots for our classmates in the cafeteria, even if they weren’t necessarily our best friend. We invited everyone to our birthday parties because we didn't want anyone to be left out.

At what point do people stop trying to be kind to others? Is it as soon as we walk through the doors of middle school and into our new cliques? Or does kindness actually disappear in the midst of high school, when we are introduced to our first real-world stresses? Or, what I think might be most accurate, is it when we start to be concerned with only ourselves, whenever that may be?

Somewhere along the way, we lose touch with the fact that we are not all that matters in the world, and we have no one there to remind us.

Well, here’s your reminder:

The thing is, we may not get along with everyone. In fact, we might not get along with most. We are bound to have disagreements -- most likely on a daily basis -- and that’s okay. I’m not here to tell you that we all have to agree in life. That would be unrealistic. But is it unrealistic to ask for people to show kindness, even in the midst of disagreement?

I really hope not.

What people seem to forget when they are being cut off on their way to work in the morning, or getting snapped at by their boss, or even getting tripped in the hallway by the school bully, is that these people have lives totally unknown to us.

What if that bully lives in a trailer home with his alcoholic mom and her many boyfriends? What if your boss had lost her dog the night before? What if that old man who cut you off on the interstate was on his way to get flowers for his wife of sixty years for Valentines Day and he just can’t see very well anymore? You just don’t know.

So before you flick off the next person who makes you angry on the road, before you start talking smack about your manager to your coworkers, and before you become a bully yourself, remember this: you know nothing about them or their personal struggles. Their struggles are unknown to you, just like your struggles are unknown to me.

A little kindness can go a long way to make someone’s day a little extra special. Even if that just means you smile at a stranger at the mall, compliment someone on their hair, or be totally cliché and purchase the Starbucks order for the car behind you. Anything. But, let’s get away from this growing habit that we have in the world today -- this growing habit of negativity that spreads like gossip in the seventh grade. Because we don’t need it.