Kindness

If you can be anything in this world, be kind.

— Unknown

You guys, I just returned from such a fun family vacation (I'II share some pics soon) and saw this relevant, powerful quote while vintage/antique shopping with my cool 13 year old daughter. We stayed in a small town near Yosemite, and as we drove up the hill, smoke hung in the sky, thick and grey. California was blazing in flames everywhere. At the same time, when we turned on the local radio, it seemed the airwaves were buzzing with political unrest and global pandemic concerns. You don't have to turn far these days to see that people are unhappy and often with each other. Facebook and even Instagram are saturated with hostility.

If you can be anything in this world, be kind.

These words are more important than ever right now.

Our nation is starving for kind conversations. However, it is impossible to have a kind conversation with strangers if we first don't know how to speak kindly to ourselves and our family members. Tich Nhat Hanh has said that if we can't be kind to the people that we share a roof with, how much harder is it to show kindness to people we don't know? [paraphrase mine].

So, we bought this super cool vintage typewriter while shopping. My daughter had the brilliant idea of keeping it out on our main counter and asked that everyday we all write to each other on it. Affirmations, interesting ideas, love notes...anything written to connect, to show kindness.

My friends, let's get creative on ways we can show kindness to one another. Especially to those we don't agree with. This is my homework, too! Take time to consider what another person's kindness has meant to you.