The Importance Of Kindness
It was 6am when my four daughters and I dropped my husband off at the airport this morning, heading out to finish up the last class in his doctoral program. We begin our journey back home, and just moments after we dropped him off, our car started shaking a little bit. I look in the rearview mirror "girls, do you feel the car shaking, or is that just me?" thinking to myself that maybe I am just feeling weird from being overly tired. They respond "yes! What is that mommy?" and seconds later *pop* our tire bursts!!
I pull over to the side of the road and start panicking, because I have not a dang clue how to change a tire. The girls begin to panic as they watch me in my utter confusion and lack of knowledge on the matter. I text my husband "what do I do?! I don't even know what number to call". Just after I begin texting him, I hear a knock on my window. I jump a little, but roll down the window. This kind man asks if he can help me change my tire. Mind you it is a whopping 10 degrees outside. Not exactly ideal conditions for being outside, let alone for free, for a stranger. I was in awe of his kindness.
As he began changing the tire we started chatting, mainly to distract ourselves from the insanely cold temperature. He tells me how him and his wife are on their way to vacation in Montana. They were driving right behind us when the tire blew out. They drove to the first exit and turned around just for the purpose of helping us out. I could have easily been stuck there for over and hour waiting for roadside assistance had they decided to just drive past us. I could have easily had to stick it out much longer with my four very tired and grumpy children, but because of this kind man and his wife deciding to choose the less convenient option, we were able to head back home quickly. They chose to show me and my girls a real kindness that you don't see enough of in this world.
When us humans see someone in need we typically choose the easier option of just passing by and saying to ourselves...well, someone else will help them out. We know of a friend who is going through some emotional problems and we almost pretend they are okay so we don't need to be brought down with their emotions. We see the homeless and judge them so harshly that we feel we don't need to help them. We begin to believe that it is somehow ALL of their faults for being homeless. We know of all the children in the foster care system, believe with everything in us that abortion is wrong, yet we do absolutely nothing to foster, adopt, or support those children or their birth mothers in anyway. We even see things like people stranded on the side of the road with a blown out tire and not a clue how to fix it, yet many with capable hands are so quick to pass by.
Humans can be the worst, but they can also be the best. Today I saw the best in human kind. I saw the love and sacrifice, and felt extremely blessed. Kindness costs you nothing, yet can bring insurmountable joy to others. If only we would choose that path more often, imagine what this world could be! Whatever it is that keeps you from being kind to others and using your abilities to love and serve, figure it out. Learn to be kind not just on your good days, but also on your bad ones.
Learn to love others like Christ first loved us. And remember to always choose kindness in a less than kind world.
