On Kindness

Today I've been thinking about a quote that I really love. It goes like this:

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
Anonymous

Isn't that wonderful?! It makes me think about my Mom when I was growing up. No matter what the situation seemed to be where somebody was upseting me, she never failed to instinctively give them the benefit of the doubt. When I was young I didn't exactly understand why and to be honest it quite annoyed me, but as an adult I really appreciate that quality in a person. I find myself now doing the very same thing to my husband. If he gets frustrated by somebody on the road I will remind him that we don't know what may be going on in their life. Wouldn't you hope that when you snap at someone or accidentaly cut off another driver they are saying to themselves, "No biggie, maybe they're just having a tough day". I sure do!

As the quote says, we all have difficulties in our lives and most of the time we won't know the struggles of others, which gives us all the more reason to show kindness. It's such a simple act that we probably learned in preschool, but it applies just as much now as it did when we were three. We may never know the impact a kind gesture or a smile can have on somebody.

Now that I'm all grown up, I realize the most difficult thing is to be kind when somebody is not treating me in the same manner, but when you think about it, those people probably need it most! Why is it that something so simple can be so difficult to penetrate, because the bottom line is, we all need grace.