Kindness

Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of showcasing something ugly and negative, we gave the spotlight to something powerful and positive?

I would much rather hear about the restaurant that offers free food to the homeless than hear about some disgruntled individual who chose to act out in violence.

There needs to be a shift in the country. People need to stop giving negativity all of their attention. I believe that if positive things received more air-time than negative, the negative junk would soon take a drastic drop.

But the change starts with you. The way you interact with people and the image you project to the world. The things you waste your time with and the things you choose to talk about.

Say hello to the elderly gentleman you pass on the sidewalk. Offer to bring the cart back to the corral for the mom trying to get kids in car seats. Hold open the door for those coming in behind you.

Small acts make big differences.

For example, this week I met our neighbor’s little girls. They live in the apartment above us and were outside playing when I went to take Harvey out. They asked if they could pet him and I of course said yes. As they asked questions about him, I remembered that Josh and I had noticed their chalk drawings on the sidewalk leading up to their apartment door. Since their sidewalk is shorter than ours (our door is further from the parking lot), I invited to girls to use our sidewalk for their chalk drawings anytime they wanted more creative space.

The conversation pretty much ended there and I brought Harvey back inside. That afternoon I was going to take him out again and discovered they had taken me up on the offer to color on our sidewalk. And one of the messages was very sweet, “You are the best nabbers (neighbors) ever!”

Spread kindness! It comes full circle.