...I've also been thinking about kindness recently. It was perfect, in my institute class this week we were asked the question, What causes people to be kind?
Sometimes we are kind because we feel obligated to be.
Sometimes we are kind because our heart cannot help but respond in such a manner.
More often than not, being kind results in us feeling better. In fact, being kind may be driven by the desire to please people...and that is okay, but not the ideal.
I couldn't write it down fast enough, but I believe the quote in class from President George A. Smith said,
" Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to our devotion to helping others".
I've had 3 specific opportunities to show kindness recently. At my clinical rotation right now I am working with in-patients at a physical rehabilitation hospital. Many of the patients are elderly, and nearly all of them move at a very slow pace. I saw a few of the therapists roll their eyes and talk to the patients as if they are children. I decided in my first week that I would not get annoyed at the slowness of the pace and treat them all with the utmost dignity. I try to think of how I would want someone treating my grandparents. It has made all the difference in my attitude and I am enjoying my time there.
The other two experiences involved going out of my way to do kind things for two different friends. There were great benefits in it for me, but the greatest rewards from being kind come when acting purely on the basis that every person I meet is a son or daughter of God and deserves to be treated special. (I am FAR form perfect in the "every person" part, but kindness is a work in progress.) Kindness is expressed in the little things, and I love finding little things to do for people. For example, who knew that high pulp orange juice or unwrapping tacos for a driver could make somebody so happy? Kindness is answering the phone with a smile in your voice when getting woken up at 6:50 am after going to bed at 1:00am. These experiences with kindness brought me pure joy!
I also received kindness in return. My most treasured type of kindness to get is someone's time. I know my time is precious, so when I am given some else's time, it means a whole lot to me.
I recently had a discussion with a friend about this quote:
Anne Morrow Lindbergh said,
“My life cannot implement in action the demands
of all the people to whom my heart responds”.
Maybe we cannot implement into action the demands of ALL people, but we should implement into action the demands of as many as we can. Let me end with the Creed of Life by President George A. Smith (8th Pres. of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). It is a beautiful example to strive for to learn true Christ-like love and kindness.
"I would be a friend to the friendless and find joy in ministering to the needs of the poor. I would visit the sick and afflicted and inspire in them a desire for faith to be healed. I would teach the truth to the understanding and blessing of all mankind. I would seek out the erring one and try to win him back to a righteous and happy life. I would not seek to force people to live up to my ideals, but rather love them into doing the thing that is right. I would live by the masses and help to solve their problems that their earth life may be happy. I would avoid the publicity of high positions and discourage the flattery of thoughtless friends. I would not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do him good and make him my friend. I would overcome the tendency to selfishness and jealousy and rejoice in the success of all the children of my Heavenly Father. I would not be an enemy to any living soul. Knowing that the Redeemer of mankind has offered to the world the only plan that will fully develop us and make us really happy here and hereafter, I feel it not only a duty but a blessed privilege to disseminate the truth. "
(Elder George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, Vol. 5, March 1932, p. 295;
