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Today's
Meditation:
The second
sentence here is one of my favorite quotations of all
time. It says something very true and very
profound-- that there are many people doing many kind
things all the time, but they most certainly aren't making
headlines. Usually, those headlines are full of the
names of criminals and politicians and athletes and
entertainers, people whom the vast majority of us never
will meet, never will have anything to do with at
all. That sentence gives me hope, for I know that
kindness isn't dead, and kind people haven't disappeared.
Most
of us make our lives out of the public eye, even though
there are constantly more and more forces that are trying
to make us dissatisfied with this state of affairs.
After all, anyone can become a megastar these days,
right? If you can't do it on American Idol,
then perhaps you can succeed on The Voice or any
other show that thrusts people into the limelight in order
to allow other people to judge them. But I like life
out of the spotlights, for here I feel peaceful and
relaxed. I want to be part of the everyday kindness
of the back roads, even if I don't live in the back
roads-- I can still show that kindness to others.
What
does it mean to be truly selfless? What does it mean
to be a giving, loving person? What does it mean to
show kindness all that you can, to all the people you
can? I think that if we can set our minds on being
kind, we can truly change the worlds of many people,
people who may find a thread of hope in our kindness,
people who may see a ray of light in it on a day that was
perhaps quite dark to begin with.
There
is much, much kindness in the world. Just because we
don't see it so regularly on the news or on the Internet
or on our phones doesn't mean it's not there-- it's simply
being neglected by those people whose job it is to put
things in the public eye. I want to keep reminding
myself that there are plenty of kind people out there, and
I really want to be just like them, as much as I can.
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