Kindness

I have been sick for the past week. Evidently there is a rather virulent form of flu going around and it decided that I was a likely host.  It definitely has taken up residence and nine days in does not appear to be leaving any time soon. I can report that I do have very cautious optimism that I will recover fully before May arrives.

When you cannot leave your home and you have no oomph, you spend a lot of time watching television and being alone with your thoughts. As most of you know, spending time alone with my thoughts is not unusual for me, but there is a difference when it is a forced alone time, and your thoughts can also be feverish.

Luckily for me it was a busy week. First there was one of my favorite true crime trials going on. That kept me engaged for much of my confinement and resulted in a verdict on this past Tuesday. The good thing about being feverish is that you do not mind hashing and rehashing every detail, statement and occurrence. Thanks to YouTube, you can watch at least five or six different versions of the same information. If your temperature is high enough some of it can even seem new to you.

Another side effect of feeling so awful is that almost everything made me cry. Not sob exactly but just cause my eyes to leak tears as I felt the sadness of other people. This happened whether or not it was “true crime” or “fake TV.” The upsets on Grey’s Anatomy were on a parallel with the courtroom the family of the murder victim.  Because I had nothing but time, I analyzed what was causing these phenomena. It seems to kindness and its opposite; cruelty are the big triggers.

Then the Pope died. Thank heavens I was through most of the high temperature portion as one can only imagine the eye leaking that might have occurred. I am not Catholic nor do I usually embrace the faith, but Pope Francis was different for me. As an outsider, it appeared he wanted to change some things up for what he perceived to be “the better.” Many did not agree. I gave him credit for giving it a go.  I watched the ABC Special about him yesterday and found it an interesting retelling of a life. I learned things I did not know and filled in some of the blanks that had been in my shallow pool of knowledge.

Here is what I came away with, he wanted to be kind. He wanted to help others see that they are not alone in this world and that cuts both ways. He wanted the dispossessed to feel they were seen and he wanted the arrogant and unseeing to realize that they did not walk this planet alone. He had an holistic approach.

The problem with putting kindness into the world is that so many people see it as a weakness or a capitulation. It is not, it is just kindness. Seeing your fellow human as that someone just like you regardless of religion, color, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, politics, wealth, poverty, intellect or any other “other” creating label.

It has caused me to reconsider my own places of judgement, blindness or opinion. We lost someone of kindness in a position of power. They are rare and it will take many of us to fill that gap. Join me in sending out the love.