A Mandate for Kindness

Many scoff when you say we need global community—meaning to recognize that all people not only matter but are connected. Certain so-called religious leaders teach a gospel of division and false piety based on standards arbitrarily set by denominations. The truth is each of us must live according to our honest beliefs and not merely the dictates men devised long ago. So, the sad fact that so many are anxious to denigrate without reason anyone—human or beast—they find offensive is their choice. I’m currently reading KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann and I have to say the horrors committed against mankind and nature in this, the formerly purported home of freedom and justice, for hate or money or both were and are difficult to realize. That similar horrors continue worldwide today makes me feel not only ill but misplaced. Was I accidentally transported to some wicked corner of the universe where planets and their occupants are trashed? “What a piece of work is man…” takes on a dark and evil tone that might have made even moody Hamlet cringe. We can’t expect perfection from humanity, but we can work to do much better than surrendering to twisted instincts.

But let’s return to global community. The stirrings of a deepened sense of awareness have begun both within and without established intersections of principle. At last many are shaking off their reluctance to stand up to cruelties that offend even our animal relatives. Friendships are rising to replace defective family groups. Certain religious doctrines are being re-examined for the core truths felt instinctually throughout human experience. Authoritarian dictates are being edited to reveal the miraculous powers of simple love lying beneath. Politics still lag far behind because a percentage of politicians are poisoned by a hunger for control or profit during their time on earth. All that is changes in our supposedly solid world.

Recently my husband and I have had occasion to appreciate receiving and giving kindnesses not predicated on obligation or rules. Friends and strangers have simply been kind because that’s who they are. Empathy is a force that can be felt as an aura of safety and connection. The controllers can’t comprehend the massive power caring can wield. It recognizes no borders, no differences in physical being. During disasters, people who had given up caring suddenly discover they need caring as does the population around them. The fires in California seared a painful lesson into many of the rich. All mammals display similar needs. Death and ruin don’t honor privilege. Originality, intelligence, and invention don’t recognize boundaries. We help one another because that’s what we’re designed to do. No one person can provide all the planet needs. No one culture deserves to dominate the rest. Like the great civilizations buried before our arrival, we are expendable—more so when we’re divided. Driving out snakes isn’t as easy as it sounds, is it?