Be Kind Whenever Possible

It is always possible.

Yesterday was Easter, the most sacred day of the year for Christians. And today, I was saddened to learn that the Pope has died, a gentle man who devoted his life to his faith. I am not a Catholic, but I had the opportunity to hear him speak a while back, and his kindness moved me. So I thought I’d write about that today. Here are some beautiful thoughts on kindness that resonate with me:

Dalai Lama: "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."

Aesop: "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

Fred Rogers: "There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind."

Matthew 7:12 (The Golden Rule): "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

For me, being kind is, in a way, a selfish act, because it makes me happy. If I can, for just a passing moment, spark a smile and a connection in a passing stranger, I get a little charge. My own experience is that it is very rare when a smile is not returned. People instinctively smile back!

Of course, we are human, so it is not always possible to be kind. We may be tired or upset or just distracted, and so miss opportunities for small, simple acts of kindness when they appear.

They often appear on airplanes. There have been many, many times I have been on airplanes seated near young parents attempting to calm a crying baby or restless toddler. Having empathy in this situation is pretty easy for me, since we experienced the impatient, reproachful looks ourselves from fellow plane passengers back in our day.

I have a consistent policy of offering both the child and the parents my most kind and empathetic smile and a word of encouragement. Smiling at babies is the easiest thing to do in the world. Sometimes, it is enough to distract and calm them. You can feel the stress level in their parents start to drop, too.

Part of being kind is just assuming the best in people, or at least not assuming the worst. The parents on the plane aren’t incompetent, selfish people for bringing their noisy, uncontrollable child. They are almost always trying their hardest to calm their child, and are acutely aware of the potential for annoyance. Sometimes, somebody is just having a bad day.

Do you know who seems to be having a bad day every day? The President of the United States.

Here is what he had to say on Easter:

Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!! From Donald Trump Truth Social 04/20/25 08:46 AM

I do not follow the President on social media because I don’t want to be assaulted by his negativity, but sometimes one of his cartoon villain tweets sneaks through. On the one hand, they are so outlandish, so over-the-top, that they are almost comical. But they aren’t comical. They are corrosive, and they are the dead opposite of kind. I know it sounds wimpy, but his tweets are hurting my heart.

For as long as I have followed politics in this country, the two parties have spent great energy trying to brand the other party negatively. Negative ads and commentary have been a feature of American politics since the beginning. But something has changed for the worse since 2016, when the current President entered the fray. His relentless negativity - his unkindness - has freed everyone else to embrace their inner-mean.

I have a jaundiced eye towards people shouting about crises - I consider it part of the modern business model for media. Crises sell. So I am reluctant to introduce a new one, but here I go. We have a crisis on our hands of unkindness. Just as kindness can be taught by example, so can meanness. And right now, an entire generation is learning by example from our leaders how to be cruel to each other - how to treat each other inhumanely.

And it is having an impact - just look at how, over the past couple of decades, the views of members of the two political tribes in this country have changed for the worse. Back in 1994, only 1 in 5 Republicans had a very unfavorable view of Democrats. By 2022, that had tripled to 3 in 5. The negative numbers going in the opposite direction also tripled. This is a really, really, bad trend for our country.

There is an accompanying phenomenon of family members and longtime friends no longer speaking because of their political differences. A 2024 report highlighted that approximately 1 in 5 Americans have become estranged from a close family member over political disagreements.

The only people who are gleeful about the way Americans are at each other’s throats right now are the leaders of the authoritarian regimes around the world, like China. Because we are undermining ourselves in a way that they never could dream of doing.

Our kind leaders are being drowned out by the relentless barrage of negativity. We need them so badly! We need examples of people disagreeing and yet still loving each other as humans.

That is my ask today. Let us all commit to being kind to each other, especially to those with whom we disagree. I don’t have hope for our current President, but we do NOT have to emulate him. Moral leaders throughout the history of humanity have understood that this is the only way, so let’s follow them instead.