Kindness

The biggest acts of kindness can be found in the smallest of gestures. It doesn’t take much to reach through aged layers of disbelief and rejection to find the portion of a heart steadfastly beating in faint pulses of hope. Kindness does not require massive wealth or singular brilliance; unique purview or impressive skill.

These acts of gentle outreach start with simple thoughts focused on others. Thoughts that take shape in fragrant flowers or a strong hug or arriving as a note filled with supportive words. Thoughts personified as time spent with another in silence or chatter and spaces filled with smiles expanding around warm, sparkling eyes into crinkles of skin.

Some people are fragile as hand blown Venetian glass butterflies displayed to the world on shelf edges. The slightest breath of the wind could instantly shatter their beauty. Other people are resilient as mountain trees bending with sudden storms and changing colors with the seasons. A few people are diaphanous as dew announcing their presence in the faintest wisp of time before melting into the landscape of life.

In every forest, there lives butterflies, saplings, sturdy trees, and rain falling as tears on all. In every life, there hides secret hurts, unfulfilled dreams and distinctive talents. In every one, there lies the power to extend kindness to others as rest with the touch of a hand; shelter under protective branches; or lifesaving droplets falling without discrimination on the world.