Yesterday, my supervisor and I had an interesting discussion. It seems he took a bit of an exception to the small acts of Kindness that I was doing for others at work. It wasn’t anything big or saintly I was doing — just refilling the espresso machine with coffee beans & cleaning up after others every now and then & doing the small favor here or there. It wasn’t that big of a deal each time, a…nd the folks for whom I did these deeds seemed to appreciate them (even though most of the time I did them “secretly”).

Still, my supervisor made some good points as to why I shouldn’t be Kind in this way …

He said that each favor might be small in & of itself, but that together they made for alot of extra work … And you know, I think he’s right.

He said that correcting others’ mistakes would never force them to “learn the hard way” … I think he’s right again.

He said that being Kind to others in this way would lead them to expect the same in the future, and to then be disappointed in me (or even angry with me) if I ever stopped helping them … Once again, his argument seems to be “on the money”.

And yet, even though he made these sound arguments, I think I’m going to keep being Kind anyway … I think the extra work (even if it turns out to be alot of extra work) is time well spent. I think that saving others the pain of “learning the hard way” is always a good thing to do (they will, after all, have MANY other opportunities in their lives to learn from pain). I think that it feels really good to be Kind to another, because I am doing it for THEM — not to receive anything in return; not to have them like me more or think well of me.

In essence, Kindness may not be the most practical way to deal with people, and yet it IS the way that brings real Joy …

… and I think Joy, not practicality, is what we truly need.

Filed under: Wisdoms from the Journey by Scaughdt