Each and every day, we’re inundated with stories about how the world is going to hell. War, poverty, pollution… all manner of atrocities are flung at us from all directions, and it’s enough to draw even the most lighthearted person into a pit of despair.
Fortunately, a great way to counteract all that ugly is to be the change we want to see. None of us can change the entire world all by ourselves, but by making small amendments in our own lives and encouraging others to do the same, a snowball effect occurs that can affect the entire planet in time.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world’. Meaning, don’t underestimate the little things that can make a big difference. A small act of kindness may not seem a lot from your perspective, but it can make someone’s day. Remember the last time somebody held the door open for you, simply smiled or gave you an honest compliment? Or the last time you gave someone a compliment and they appreciated it? How did that make you feel?
In today’s digital age it could be argued that it is becoming increasingly challenging to listen to somebody without being interrupted by a social media nudge, to hold the door open instead of holding onto a phone, to smile at a person instead of smiling at a screen or to simply observe other people’s kindness around us. Stopping and reflecting on what each of us can do to be kinder in our own lives is more important today than ever before, and is part of what makes us all human.
Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see
Mark Twain
Kenrick Vaz 