Kindness

​Kindness
It was a story I wanted to see on Landline.  So I watched it.  Turned out it was the last story on the show.  I saw heaps of other interesting stuff, but the one I waited for was worth it.
It was about a small town in WA that welcomed back packers.  Their thinking was “these people are the sons and daughters of people doing it really tough.  If we do not welcome them, they will need to return to really tough conditions.”  So they welcomed them.  Other towns turned them away.
It was what one of the farmers said that I really liked.  Pandemic seems to be the buzz word right now.  She talked of a pandemic, but called it a “kindness pandemic.”
I really like that.  So much is being said about other pandemics that are bad.  Covid, DV, drugs, gambling etc.  But this was a pandemic of another kind.  A “kindness pandemic.”
I wrote about motives recently but one of the farmers said exactly what I was talking about.  She said we did not house them with an obligation to help.  She said “we can only hope they do.”  That fits the Wikipedia definition of kindness perfectly.  “Kindness is a type of behaviour marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without having an expectation of praise or reward.”
I did not know it, even though Australia is one of the countries that is supposed to celebrate it.  November 13 is World Kindness Day.
Everyone needs kindness.  I know when I have blown it.  I know when I need correction or a rebuke.  But sometimes I just need a hug.  Or an equivalent act of kindness.  Sometimes the best thing for me is understanding of my frailty, and a belief in me.  Sometimes I just need to get up, brush myself off, and keep going without a lowering of expectation, but of a fresh belief in the rightness of the goal.
That probably goes against the grain of what is portrayed on the big screen.  Kindness displayed is seen almost to be an act of weakness.  Kindness is almost an unsort by-product of a superhero saving mankind.
The online site “Mental Health” had a theme called “Kindness” and the Chief Executive said “why it could be the most important week we’ve ever run…”  It had so much good stuff.  “Wisdom from every culture across history recognises that kindness is something that all human beings need to experience and practise to be fully alive.”  The reason why they saw the week as important was, “because of its singular ability to unlock our shared humanity.” 
That is true.  Not everyone can be a leader.  Not all have oodles to give.  The ability to teach is the domain of some.  But kindness is the domain of all.  From the richest to the poorest, the most talented to the least talented, all can display kindness.
In a book I was reading a teacher did a test.  They told the students to in 30 seconds write down all the people they disliked.  Some had trouble thinking of anyone while others wrote furiously.  It turned out the ones who disliked the most people, were the most disliked themselves.
I would like kindness shown to me, so in that case I better display it.