Always Be Kind
One of the greatest lessons I have learned was to always be kind to everyone. We are often so wrapped up in our own lives, we forget everyone is struggling with something. When someone cuts us off in traffic or someone forgets their wallet in line, whatever the case may be, we allow ourselves to get so frustrated over something so insignificant.
How many times do you allow yourself to let something so small, completely ruin your day? How many times have you experienced something that annoyed you and found yourself lingering about the details in conversations over and over again? I know I personally let minuscule interactions with others, completely take over my emotions, putting myself in a state of anger or frustration for the rest of my day. I know this because I will mention this interaction several times before I let it go.
In return, all I did was give that experience the power to ruin an hour of my life or even day. In the end, most of these interactions don’t matter. So, why do we allow them to take up space and time to think about something that has already happened and can’t be changed?
How many times have you been having a bad day and taken it out on someone? How many times have you been the person who forgot to bring your wallet in for your groceries and held up the line? How many times have you been the person to make a mistake and experience the many faces of judgment, when you really needed someone to just be kind to you in that moment?
We all have our good and bad days but we always forget to be kind to others when they are struggling. I used to work at a grocery store and I had a returning customer who would buy several gift cards every time she shopped. She would break them down into several orders and I would get anxious because a line would form behind her. I would see all of the customers frustrated faces and quiet remarks and question why she always needed to come in the express line, when every week she would hold up the line.
In return, I started to get frustrated because now I was getting anxious about all of the people behind her and was upset I was being affected negatively by this interaction each week. Over time, she would slowly open up to me about her life and I learned she had PCOS (like myself), wasn’t able to have children and worked 5 plus jobs. When you learn personal details about someone, it somehow makes them more human, especially when we are able to relate to them. I was getting worked up over how this interaction was affecting me and the other people in line, I didn’t take in account this customer was indeed a person, almost as if she was just another transaction.
I had another customer who would come through self-checkout with a cart load of groceries, more then allowed. She would single bag items and disinfect each one. Customers would get upset and constantly make rude comments and yell at her. One day, she was getting yelled at, looked at me and apologized for taking so long. I told her not to worry about it and take all the time she needed; other lanes were open. She explained to me she has a disease that affects her immune system by the smallest amount of bacteria. She was so scared of getting sick, disinfecting everything herself and bagging it separately, made her feel safe and okay. The courage she has to grocery shop each week is incredible but because for most people, grocery shopping isn’t an issue, we place judgment on someone for things we don’t understand or relate to.
You never know what someone is going through or the journey they are on. Always being kind to someone isn’t going to hurt you. When someone is rude to you, it usually is ignited from their own hurt or anger they are experiencing. Does it make it right? No, but you lashing out on them doesn’t make it better. Sometimes killing people with kindness is the best solution. Being mean to someone when I am upset, has never made me feel better. I always feel worse knowing I took my anger out on someone who didn’t deserve it.
We are all human and all equal. Your job, income, status, sex, etc., does not make you any better than another person. Everyone has something they struggle with and everyone deserves respect. Life is tough on everyone at some point, why add to the damage? Be a good person and try to spread kindness when you can. Try not to take everything personally, although sometimes it is hard not to. Say please and thank you to those who help you. We can all use someone to be compassionate and kind to us, why not be a reflection of the treatment we would like to receive?
