Sunday, November 14, 2010

on kindness (or a lack thereof)

upside down and double exposed
yesterday was world kindness day. the lovely sel'ah gathered a whole lot of bloggy souls together to do a random act of kindness in their world, myself included.  it was slightly problematic that i didn't actually leave the house yesterday, so i still owe a random act of kindness. but that seems like a good thing to have in one's future, so i'm on the lookout now for my opportunity.

of course, i couldn't help but think about what kindness is and whether i'm particularly good at it. i suspect i'm not. as one of the less patient people in the world, i think that sometimes i strike people as abrupt and hurried and not all that kind. it seems like kindness has something to do with taking time and noticing others and i fear i do that far too little. it feels like i'm always in a hurry, dashing on to the next thing.

i could probably be much kinder at work. i have a tendency, probably from a number of years of moving around in the man's world that is shipping, to be bold and a little too aggressive and very, very impatient. i don't tend to wait for people and if they don't get it (whatever it is) right away, i am openly exasperated. and that's just not very kind.  if it's any consolation, it's not just others, i'm not all that kind to myself either.

i think i'll take the opportunity afforded by sel'ah and try to think a whole lot more about kindness this week...

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my sister, the seldom blogger, blogged some very interesting thoughts about her son and struggling with the possibility of getting him some medication for a possible case of ADD. if you have any experience with this or thoughts to share, please read what she had to say and leave a comment over on just know where you are.

4 comments:

poet said...

This resonates with me very much... I'm also a rather impatient person, and in the past I've hurt myself by always putting myself last despite this impatience (vs. other peoples' interests and needs), so right now I'm struggling with an overcompensating attitude of putting myself first that leads to acts of unkindness... It gives me hope that others out there are struggling, too. If you want you can count this towards your act of kindness :)

Thanks,
poet

One Woman's Thoughts said...

Dear Self-proclaimed Impatient-One,

LOL. The thing about kindness is, it can easily be overlokked when they are no fireworks that are attached.
YOUR act of kindness yesterday WAS your post. Making people aware. You really don't have to leave the house to do a random act.
Kindness has a ripple effect. Starts tiny and then next thing the entire pond is affected.

Char said...

my sister would probably say that i wasn't as kind as i normally am yesterday, i was consumed with irritation at this driver that insisted on driving at one speed in the left lane. which would ideally would be ok, except when we approached big trucks in the right lane that were going slow up the inclines....ugh. i really dislike drivers that insist on staying in the left lane.

but..on the other hand, i drove and doubled back to make sure my sister had a coffee and something to eat of her preference before we went shopping so her stomach wouldn't hurt. that's a kindness right...i mean i did it without complaining.

Sammi said...

My brother has Attention Defecit Disorder, and dyslexia so he can be much hard work.. but I will write a little bit about him in a comment over there..

I think random acts of kindness is a whole way of life, the whole way you see the world. my sister is much better at being kind than i am. she thinks outside of her world first.

I tend to be a little hasty and blunt at work, my boss picks me up on it a lot. which is funny, because we pick him up on the same thing a lot.