Be Kind Today, and Tomorrow, Too

A dear friend of ours wrote a few days ago, despairing that “radical kindness” appears to be threatened more than ever before. He was feeling at that moment that the task of helping kindness to grow in the world was incredibly “daunting”. 

He reached out to us, knowing that kindness is a foundational element of our values personally, and for Someone To Tell It To. He also reached out because we all view the late Fred Rogers - Mr. Rogers - as  the best example in our lifetimes of a person who exemplified kindness and all that it means. 

In fact our friend - journalist Tim Madigan - actually knew Fred Rogers personally, having interviewed him and retained a close relationship with him in the seven years before Fred’s death, in 2003. He knows how Fred’s kindness bore into people’s hearts, including Tim’s, and made them feel heard, known, respected, cared about, and loved. 

Tim wants the world to know this kind of kindness, too, So do we.

Graciousness. Gentleness. Goodness. Genuineness. Generosity.

All in abundance. Those characteristics are kindness in action.

Today is World Kindness Day, celebrated across the globe. Today offers an opportunity to highlight goodness among us and the common thread of kindness that enhances life in so many wonderful ways. Kindness focuses on our collective well-being, that we are all in this world together and need one another’s help to make this world a better, kinder place. Kindness is a “universal language”, it’s been said,  that is valued and appreciated wherever we go or with whomever we meet. 

The world is in deep need of kindness today. We don’t have to list the traumas, horrors, and troubles that the world holds around us. We all know too many of them already. 

That is one fundamental reason that Someone To Tell It To exists - to share and show kindness to a hurting, dysfunctional. To be kindness personified. To stand against the destructive forces that tear one another down, that disrespect one another’s humanity and dignity, that devalue one another’s hopes and dreams and very lives.

We believe in the core of our beings that kindness begins with listening. To listen lifts one another up. To listen respects one another’s humanity and preserves one another’s dignity. To listen gives value to one another’s hopes, dreams, and lives.

Listening well and with intention is where kindness begins and love takes over and life becomes better for us all. 

Be kind today. Be kind tomorrow. Be kind every day that comes after tomorrow. The world needs our kindness. It needs it so very much. 

We and our friend Tim are committed to being examples of kindness in this world of ours. We and all our team of listeners and listening educators are all committed to showing and sharing how kindness changes the world - and changes our hearts - in ways like nothing else we humans can do.

Photo by Ditto Bowo on Unsplash