03/12/21

Value of the Month - ‘We are KIND’

Kind is one of those words that has two meanings
We talk about ‘mankind’ or ‘humankind’. Here kind means a group of people who are like each other.
But kind also means how we act towards someone else and it is this meaning that is our value of the month: ‘we are kind

When someone is being kind to another, they may be doing a number of things:
    They are being nice when they don’t need to
    They are looking at the best in someone rather than taking a negative slant
    They are treating someone the way they would like to be treated themselves.
According to BBC news, there was a town in Minnesota, where someone was at a drive in food place called Dairy Queens in December 2020 and decided to buy the meal for the person behind them. Over two and a half consecutive days, Dairy Queen customers in Brainerd surprised the driver behind them by buying them a meal! That was over 900 cars! That’s being kind.
Some grown-ups booked a baby sitter for a night out and when they got home the baby sitter said they didn’t want any payment and would do it for free. That’s being kind.
Someone was playing in the playground and was upset that their toy was damaged. A friend said they could play with theirs. That’s being kind.

So we know what kindness looks like but that doesn’t mean we always find it easy to be kind to
others. Sadly, we might secretly want to be mean or unkind.
Here’s some things to help you be kind to others.

1. You can get joy from pleasing others. Studies have shown that you can gain pleasure from someone benefiting from what you do. It’s not the only reason you do it, but it certainly helps
2. Think of all the good things you enjoy. When we know that things are good for us, it becomes easier to want others to enjoy good things and being kind is one way of doing that.
3. Try and think about how someone might feel if you were kind to them. It’s a great way to make friends and build community.

We all want to spend time with people who are kind. It’s your way of making the world a be.er place. There is a lot of
sadness in the world, and we can feel that we are too small to do any good. But being kind to others helps us to change the things we can change. One famous prayer goes like this: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

Being kind makes a difference to someone.

So how much kindness can will you show others today?   NP

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