Unrepentant Kindness

In a world that has dimmed to spotlight selfish designs, even tiny candles of compassion seem extraordinarily bright. Warriors of kindness lend helping hands or funds or respect that nourishes those who are depleted by a tsunami of negativity. Some risk personal ruin or injury as they speak out for truth and community while violence and emotional cruelty gain acceptance. Courageous people who operate according to tangible principles of goodness take time to offer encouragement or support. Those same tiny circles of light will eventually expand because a world focused on selfish material gain has no heart. It betrays its own soul. It will eventually decay.

We haven’t forgotten how glorious we felt when we were treated to glimpses of brotherhood, how we all sang or chanted together and felt what unity could be. Some of us will never forget those moments of hope and pride in what we could accomplish as a human race celebrating advances in civil rights or cooperation in space or discoveries in science and medicine and art. We noticed that awards for extraordinary advances have gone to people diverse in race, culture, and gender. We accepted that the brightest minds aren’t always attached to white males. We’ve learned at some great cost that when all life dances together, we come to better understand our world and what we can contribute to it that nourishes growth.

We have little concept of the universe or maybe universes that surround us. We imagine we’re central—as myopic humans have done for centuries. But we’re learning that we have sadly misjudged both the permanency of our tiny world and our own supremacy. We imagine our origins and alter our beliefs according to the wishes of the powerful. We’ve been indoctrinated to embrace fear…of death, of failure, of life. We don’t even understand our environs and how we’re altering them—often not in ways that will sustain us. We hoard precious metals, etc. without realizing they mean nothing outside our fantasies. We count our worth in wealth tied to our temporary financial system. Our riches will not save us from an end to living or what may come thereafter. Our technology may pale beside cultures we have yet to meet.

When we look around, we see the soldiers of kindness doing what they can to preserve that which makes humankind valuable among the beasts. They reach out to the disenfranchised and those broken while serving our interests. They choose to preserve loving dignity against the dirty tide. If you were selecting individuals with whom you’ll spend eternity, who would you choose? What if those who extol ignorance and bullying controlled you forever? Could you collect enough wealth to make your situation feel joyful?

Recently, I’ve been the recipient of immense good will and I’m doing my best to spread it around. I don’t apologize for being soft-hearted. It’s my best feature. I’m no longer in the forefront of the warriors of kindness, having outlived my influence, and I’m unsure how to proceed, but I’m still in the pack. I regret not having more resources to share or maybe I simply don’t recognize what I have. I’ve been as indoctrinated in selfishness as anyone else. But I can see the candles of caring around me. Kindness may not burst into fireworks of glory, but those candles taken together repel the dark.