Be Kind, Always

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.

I recently read a blog post written by a former classmate and “Facebook friend” that was incredibly raw and personal about something that happened to her seven years ago.  I won’t go into details regarding the event or even share her name, but what I will share is that it helped me realize that I need to change how I perceive people.

I’ve always heard (and have been told) that you should be kind to someone because you never know what type of battle they’re fighting.  I don’t think that has ever really hit home for me until now.  When I read the blog, I realized this former classmate of mine, who was (and still is) one of the most popular girls I know, went through a troubling experience and continued to go on day by day like nothing happened.  I had no idea that anything like that happened to her until she posted the blog.  We were never friends, and I’m not sure she even knew I existed while we went to high school together, so it’s not like she would’ve told me about it anyway, but I was shocked nonetheless that it did happen.  And then I felt guilty.

Guilty because I was being so judgmental about someone I knew nothing about.  Guilty because I used to mock her “perfect” life, when obviously it was anything but that.  Guilty because I was so unnecessarily jealous of her because of her popularity, her looks, and her life.

Taking a step back has helped me realize that everything you see is not necessarily a reality.  Anything we post on social media is purposely uploaded to create a specific persona of our lives and not necessarily how our lives really are.  We rarely post the bad things (with the exception of unfortunate events, such as death, that we want to make friends/family aware of), and instead focus on the good, the positive, the happy.  Referring back to my “Facebook friend” as an example, she posted pictures with friends from college at football games wearing infectious smiles, competitions that she participated in (and some where she won), and pictures displaying her life as a photographer.  She never once spoke out about this event in her life until several years later, and never even gave a hint that it had happened to her.  This just goes to show that even the people who look the happiest are sometimes the ones who are struggling the most inside.

Remember what you have, what you’re going through, and what your concerns and worries are in your life and remember that others are going through the same, some worse than others.  I encourage you (and myself) to no longer be judgmental, to no longer criticize, to no longer mock, and to no longer be jealous of others but instead to be kind, always.

Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.  -Mark Twain