Skip to main content

Intentional kindness

I'm crying in my work parking lot. And the image I have in my head is of you laughing at me. Laughing for caring. Laughing at my sensitivity. Laughing at my beliefs.

Because I believe in kindness. I believe in treating others the way I would like to be treated. Always.

I don't steal. I don't use words that are offensive to others. I don't put myself in any situation that could possibly cause harm to another human. I've never been in a situation where I felt like in order to survive, I had to hurt someone else. You have.

And so now your mind is tainted. The urge to steal is always present. Doing whatever you need to do to be comfortable is what is most important.

And that breaks my heart. Because I believe you are good and it feels like through that conversation you are doing all you can to convince me otherwise. You cannot see the good in the world.

While on the surface I'm hurt because you LITERALLY laughed and said "don't put your beliefs on me" when I said I believe everyone should try to make the world a better place, deep down I'm hurting because I think you said that to push me away. To convince me you will never care about me the way I care about you. And in this moment it worked.

I hope some day we're able to find our common beliefs. I hope we'll be able to look back at this conversation and laugh about how hard you tried to push me away. Because it didn't work. I hope by then you'll be taking every opportunity to be kind to someone because you know, from watching me, how important it is.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

So different

The older you get the more your different personalities are coming out. It's so fun! Kaybree has always wanted to be just like all the big girls she sees. You want to do what everyone else does and you fit right in! You go with the flow very well but you do your best to lead--while following. I know that doesn't make a ton of sense but basically you're the leader of the crowd. You follow everyone else but you don't let anyone step on you. You know you're the cutest thing around and you flaunt it a little bit. You pretend to be shy (because that's the cool thing to do) but you're excited to tell everyone all about your boo boos or the puppies you saw at the mall or anything else going on in your life. This week you started preschool and you were so excited. As soon as we got there you followed Teagan right inside, waving and calling goodbye to me as you went. No hesitation. You know what to do and you do it. You're attending Montessori House in Lehi f...

My biggest challenge

I’m a writer by trade. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I love to put my feelings into words. Yet, in the last month, I’ve been having a very difficult time vocalizing what’s happening in my life. It’s not because it’s been sad or difficult or anything like that. It’s mostly because there is someone new in my life who I care very deeply for who I feel this deep need to protect. I want to protect his identity, his story, his life. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries or crush any trust. I recognize the life he has lived has not been easy and so I tread lightly on this relationship we’ve built. But honestly—it’s a fantastic relationship. He’s an amazing kid. I’ve been asked to write a blog post for an organization that helps recruit foster parents about the first few weeks of being a foster parent. I’m having difficulty deciding what to write. I feel like anything I write about my case probably won’t apply to their case so it’s not very helpful. I keep writing drafts and then...

Careers

"So I've got a friend, who I met at Frys. He's an older guy. He's got a car he wants to give me and soon he's starting a business so when I'm 18 and a half or 19 I think I'm going to move out and move in with him and work for him." "Doing what?" "I don't really know but he's going to have this business." "OK. Well, good luck with that. Get it in writing and get a title for the car." I walked away just shaking my head. Silently I thought "At least he didn't tell me he's going to become a rapper. He might as well though... A couple hours later I talked with him again. "OK, so I've been texting him and finding out more about this job." "OK." "So he's going to be a rapper. And he says we'll find something for me to do, something I'm good at. Something that will make me $1,000 a day and I can probably start doing it from home--maybe finding new beats online....