Kindness is a currency that does not run out. Spend it generously, and it will return generously to you.
Kindness is a language that transcends words. A kind act done with a smile, silent as it may be, softens the giver, receiver, and all who witness it.
Kindness multiplies. Kindness shown by one spreads like a single drop of dye in water, coloring it all.
Kindness relieves. A single kind deed calms and soothes any wound, even if the pain is great.
Kindness catalyzes. Like match to kindling, it sparks forgiveness, hope, possibility, and creation.
Kindness begets kindness. It is not a zero sum game. Giving it away doesn't mean you have less, and nothing goes missing when a measure of kindness is shared.
Kindness returns in many forms. An iced coffee bought for a stranger on a hot day may return as your cab fare paid when the credit card reader is down and you haven't the cash to pay. Silently helping a fellow passenger on a plane struggling to load her bags in the overhead bin may return as a free drink from the flight attendant who watched from a few rows away. Supporting and encouraging colleagues at work without a selfish agenda may return as greater influence or trust. When you spend the currency of kindness, it may come back to you in surprising ways.
Kindness may cost nothing at all, or everything all at once. It may look like a handwritten note or the sacrifice of the stranger who lay down their life saving a child who ran into traffic. It may be small or it may overwhelm with its bigness. Either way, it matters greatly.
Kindness matters most of all. When we come to the end of our lives, we will not wish we had been busier or wealthier and we will likely not give thanks for all the likes our social media accounts received... we will be known for our kindness, for what it created in us and around us, for the many ways in which we shared it, and the many people to whom we gave it away.
How will you spend your kindness this day?