I read this years ago, and for some reason it popped back into my head today. Funny how that happens…a single line or passage just drifts back into memory when the world starts to feel…a little noisy. Anyway, I thought I’d share, because it feels especially fitting right now.
The excerpt comes from The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci:
“Kindness? It may strike us as absurd to even approach the subject: Our world is full of violence, war, terrorism, devastation. And yet life goes on precisely because we are kind to one another. No newspaper tomorrow will tell of a mother who read a bedtime story to her child, or a father who prepared breakfast for his children, of someone who listened with attention, of a friend who cheered us up, of a stranger who helped us carry a suitcase…
…Giving kindness does us as much good as receiving it… kind people are healthier and live longer, are more popular and productive, have greater success in business, and are happier than others.”
Reading that again, I was struck by how invisible most kindness is. It’s quiet, unadvertised, and it rarely trends. But it’s the glue holding everything together. If you took away every act of daily kindness – a teacher’s patience, the nurse’s calm (Eleni went to the school nurse just today and received reassurance and calm), the stranger’s wave to let you merge (I love it when I get “the wave”), civilization would collapse by Thursday.
It’s weird, isn’t it, that we have “breaking news” for every outrage but never for every act of grace? Imagine the headlines, “Local teen helps elderly man with groceries, chaos fails to ensue.” I’d read that. Probably twice.
Kindness, at its core, creates an environment that allows success to happen. Not the kind of success with confetti and trophies, but the steady, sustainable kind. The kind where people feel safe enough to try, to trust, to build.
We can’t control wars or elections or algorithms. But we can control how we treat the clerk at the cash register, the driver in front of us, the people who live under our roof. And maybe that’s enough to keep the world spinning in the right direction.
So that’s what was on my mind today. A little reminder that quiet kindness might just be the loudest force for good.
Now, if someone could kindly bring me another cup of coffee, I promise to keep the optimism going a little longer. (Nah…no coffee…I’m going to take a nap!)
Quote of the Day:
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama
One Win:
Remembered this passage instead of doomscrolling. That’s progress.
One Question:
When was the last time someone’s small act of kindness completely shifted your day?
MattMunnell.com 