In the midst of the election, school starting up again, and whatever phase of life that you’re in, I find that sometimes we lose our sense of others. As kids, we were always taught the golden rule, “treat others the way you want to be treated”. Along with being told that crayons weren’t something we were supposed to chew on, our parents made sure that this rule was pretty much ingrained in our brain. However, as life takes its toll on us and we grow to realize what makes us annoyed or mad, this rule becomes more of a wavering suggestion.

There have been countless instances in my life where I want to never forgive someone because they did something that upset me, instances where I remember what fury felt like. I remember how it was a feeling that spread throughout my entire body. However, it’s in these situations that remind me how important it is to be kind. As a person I am prone to anger, I am prone to point fingers, and I am prone to let harsh words spill out of my mouth. I have had friends who have not treated me well and my inability to speak up further pushes my frustration and lack of kindness. Then I remember that forgiveness and kindness is one of the virtues that I can control. I can’t necessarily change what that person did to make me tick or change but I can decide how I handle the situation.

We can choose how we handle the situation in a couple of ways. We can choose to be on the same level of the person who did us wrong and let our anger get the best of us, or we can try to look at the situation from different perspective. As humans we are conditioned to pick out what we don’t like. Whether if that’s a difference of opinions, weird little quirks, or anything else that we don’t agree with, we notice these things in a blink of an eye. We can decide to be helpless grudge holders and let anger become our best friend or we can understand that 1. Not everyone is out to get us and 2. If we allowed every little thing to affect us then we wouldn’t be able to grow as a person.

Being kind doesn’t cost anything. Being kind allows you to further your capability to understand human nature. Being kind allows you to learn how love activates within the cramped schedule of our lives and how much it truly matters. But don’t let my words fool you into thinking that being mad is a bad feeling or that it’s something that should be avoided at all costs. Not at all. If we don’t let ourselves understand what negative feelings are and how they cause us to respond in different ways, we fail to understand how truly detrimental they can be. It is in moments of anger, sadness, confusion, and betrayal that we look through the lens of what being human feels like.

"A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money." -John Ruskin