George Penney@georgepenney@sunny.garden
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I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about kindness since I've moved here to Aotearoa New Zealand and would like to share some thoughts. (Please bear with me!):
1. Kindness is learned. People are taught kindness by other people. We are creatures that learn by example.
2. Kindness is not a weakness. To thank people, to acknowledge they're human, to perform small acts that barely cost the individual anything, but mean a lot to others, makes for a much stronger community.
3. Kindness is a long term investment. It doesn't come with the quick thrill of a throw-away cruelty or snark. There's no fire in the belly or roaring fuel-like rage. It's quiet, its payoff is gentle. You sometimes never see the impact, or even feel it, but its tiny ripples can have large effects.
4. Kindness builds bridges between different groups, creating infrastructure for push-back and positive change. A society that values kindness is less accepting of the everyday casual--and calculated--cruelties the larger world throws around. A kind society resists normalising monstrousness.
5. Kindness is every day. On a micro level. It isn't grand gestures. If performed by everyone around you, it can even become invisible because it's taken for granted as a base-level standard for human behaviour. It only becomes visible when an outsider views it and can see it more clearly.
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