Kind people are my kinda people

     Can you believe that we live in a world that requires a day to remind us to choose kind? That's tomorrow, World Kindness Day. It's true though, we are all in need of constant reminders to give the benefit of the doubt, to put ourselves in others' shoes and to no matter what, make the kind choice. This is especially fitting now when the world is stressed. Our focus tends to be on the bad that is going on around us. Every morning we receive more bad news, every day we are faced with more challenges and more worries and we forget that we are ALL experiencing the same state of the world. It seems simple, and some would argue jejune. However, I would argue that basic and obvious are sometimes overlooked and really what we all need. 
     I started teaching my current group of students three years ago in Kindergarten. I began their first days of school focusing on choosing kind. Then, this was laying the ground work for that particular school year. I wanted these tiny little five and six year old kiddos to focus on always choosing kind, it was my behavior management plan, my way of simplifying crowd control. They do say, however, that everything you need to know you learn in Kindergarten. Fast forward to the present, their second grade year and this is still a focus for us in our classroom. I have adopted the "be kind" saying as our class motto, this will stay with us through to their middle school years when they leave me and I can only hope that they will choose to continue to carry it with them throughout life. Hanging on our door is a piece of homemade art work reminding all of us as we walk out of our learning space, that we have control over the choice to be kind. 
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     It's funny to me how something that is God given and obvious and natural doesn't actually come so natural to us. We all have to make a conscious decision to choose kind in every scenario we encounter throughout each day. Sadly, many people these days aren't choosing that path and instead kindness doesn't appear to be prevailing.
     It's ok to have different opinions and to disagree, that's actually what makes the world an interesting and exciting place to live. I can't imagine how boring this world would be if we all agreed and if we all felt the same way about everything. Being unique and different and YOU is important too but my point is that you can be and should be all of those things and kind at the same time! 
      I am not saying that I am the holy grail of kindness, in fact there are many times throughout my days when I beat myself up over not choosing the kind way, that's being human. Think about when we do choose kind though and how good it makes us feel. The fact of the matter is, that we rise when we lift others. Kindness is actually fuel for the human soul. This weekend my husband and I had to have a chat with our youngest son about the importance of holding the door open for the people behind you, a basic life skill that just isn't coming naturally to him. By the end of the weekend he was owning it and absolutely crushing his door holding skills. At one point he held the door open behind him for an older gentleman who stopped to tell him thank you and to assure Grady that he was a fine and kind young man. Grady talked about that to all of us in the car on the way home. It made him feel so good and proud of himself, it raised him up. I am grateful for that experience and for that older gentleman who took note and chose to highlight his act of kindness, that man knew what he was doing. 
     I know as I write this that all of this just seems so basic and obvious and that none of you reading this are learning anything new. I do however, hope that you feel challenged and maybe even encouraged to go about the rest of your day with a kind heart. I hope that tomorrow on World Kindness Day you go out of your way to be EXTRA kind, leave a note on a car or on a bathroom mirror, send a friend flowers, or smile big at a stranger. I hope that you call attention to the kindness you see in a child. You may even shed tears over the impact that you have the ability to have on someone else's day. I promise you that your choosing kind will raise you up and it will spread. I challenge you to highlight and share the good that you see and sprinkle that kindness all over, to be the one to lift others. It will change you.