BUILDING CHARACTER AND RESILIENCE

KINDNESS

An extract from the Sisters of St Joseph's, Mary MacKillop newsletter

You’ve got to try a little kindness

Yes, show a little kindness

Just shine your light for everyone to see

And if you try a little kindness

Then you’ll overlook the blindness

Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets.

Glen Campbell

Some of us will remember singing along to the music and lyrics of Glen Campbell. The echoes of these words call us to dig more deeply into the meaning of kindness and compassion. These lyrics have a message for our everyday living of being courteous, acknowledging achievement and greatness with gratitude, and gifting people with the joy of their worth and well-being.

Kindness is born from a deep place within each of us, a place that calls us to be kind to ourselves. It is only when we develop the compassionate self that we can reach out to others in true kindness. Acts of kindness become authentic when our motive is a genuine reaching out to another without any strings attached. This example offered by Jan Richardson is a prime example of anonymous kindness.