In kindergarten, they teach us what words are nice words and which are not nice words. We are taught a cute little script for introducing ourselves, that goes something like this:

"Hello, my name is Shannon, what's yours?" "My name is ____." "That's a nice name."

... and so on.

But somewhere along the way, we forgot this basic introduction and stopped introducing ourselves to the person next to us. Instead of talking to the girls with the really cute top, we started to turn to our friends and make fun of her instead. We learned that other people were our competition instead of a potential friend. Then along came social media to save the day, with hashtags sparking a whole movement of being kind to one another and supporting each other instead of being so defensive and mean.

People began sharing the message that it isn't cool to be a jerk, but did this really change anything? The people who post these things are the same ones who go out and still do shitty things. They will post about loving each other and supporting the accomplishments of others and actually complimenting people instead of feeling threatened because someone looks good or seems to be happy with where they are in life.

So instead of doing that, why not try to actually be nice, or actually support someone, say something nice to a stranger, and THEN post about how important it is to be a good person as much as you would like? Imagine just how much nicer the world would be if everyone who posted about the importance of kindness actually went out and made an effort to practice what they preach.

Kindness is something that requires next to no effort, especially if that energy would otherwise be expelled doing something mean, so do the world a favor and try to just one kind thing each day, and eventually it will become a part of your routine.