22 April 2021 — KINDNESS

‘Kindness is the rent we pay for the space we occupy on this planet.’ This is a quote from the book ‘Who Will Cry When You Die’ by Robin (and I’m not sure of the surname.)

I haven’t read the book yet but it comes highly recommended. I would say that we are all confronted with the choice of being kind or not many times a day. ‘Kindness’ comes under the heading ‘Giving without counting the cost’.

I get a little irritated sometimes when I move out of the way for someone to pass and they do not acknowledge me. And yesterday, two women were blocking the pavement and did not move to let me pass by which meant I would have had to step into the road. I asked them to let me pass, a little irritably and one of them shouted after me.

I returned their lack of kindness with irritation instead of the ‘kindness’ of a smile and a polite remark. ‘Kindness costs nothing!’ they say. Sometimes, however, it does cost in the sense of having to swallow one’s pride!