3. Kill with kindness

It’s all in the title, and I don’t think there are any triggers here, but if you do find any, please let me know.

A strange expression, perhaps. Why would you even use the word ‘kill’ together with the word ‘kindness’, other than to celebrate alliterations? And perhaps the meaning is unclear as well. What it means to me is seeing negative behaviour, especially towards you. And instead of feeding into it and becoming angry youself, you reach into your self and find the place where you hoard your love. Use it to guide this person who is treating you unjustly, in hope that it will show them how misplaced their behaviour is. Does it work? Maybe. Occasionally? Yes, definitely. Is there an alternative? No. We should have learned by now that violence can only create more violence. We should have learned by now that the people mistreating us are people, too, who are not the devil’s children, but who are misguided. What we should do instead of hating them or taking revenge on them is a) forgive them and b) try to help them. This is a lot to ask from anyone. I mean, imagine they said words so hurtful they almost destroyed you, so hurtful they can never be taken back. Imagine they killed someone you love. These things happen every day. And I would never ask of anyone to spend time with someone who did such dreadful things to them. But please don’t forget that forgiving is something you do to create peace. And that revenge will destroy that tiny little piece of peace in a heartbeat. But I want to take our minds away from these more extreme cases, and return to the more regular ones.

You can only help someone, and you can only really expect someone to do the right thing if you show them how. They haven’t learned how to be kind to all people yet, and perhaps they’ll be inspired to be kinder if you show them how.