WHAT KINDNESS CAN DO WITH YOU

A LITTLE BIT OF KINDNESS

There are times in our life when we don't take action because we feel the act of kindness is too little, that it wouldn't make a difference. However, sometimes the smallest gesture can make a huge impact on someone's life. There are many different ways we can show kindness to others, and it doesn't have to be in a big way.

The simplest of things may make the difference. A smile, a door being held open, a handwritten note, a kind word, the list can go on and on.

I was recently reading some of emails I receive from my friends and came across the story of The Lion and The Mouse. While this story has been around for a long time sent by one friend, it still has wisdom in its words.

This is the story:

One day a Lion was asleep when a little Mouse began running up and down his back; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him.

"Please don't," cried the little Mouse: "forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn some of these days?"

The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him that he lifted up his paw and let him go.

Some time after the Lion was caught in a trap, he pulled with all his might, but the ropes were too strong. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight, in which the Lion was, went up to him, and with his sharp little teeth gnawed away the ropes, setting the Lion free.

"You once laughed at me," said the mouse. You thought I was too little to do you a good turn. But see, you owe your life to a poor little mouse." End if the story

While you may think the story is far fetched, the point I found in reading the story is not the size of the action that is important, but the difference that a small action made. Small acts of kindness makes a difference in ways you may not realize!

Do you have opportunities to give small acts of kindness? Some people might think that they do not have a chance to show another person a small measure of kindness but these opportunities are everywhere you go through the day.

For example, if you ride on a bus, have you ever said good morning to the bus driver or do you just ignore him or her and proceed to your seat? A simple good morning or good afternoon tells the person that you acknowledge them and it is even an acknowledgement that can help to brighten a day.

If you drive a car anywhere, do you let someone enter into to traffic or do you just keep driving inching along and ignoring the other driver? Stop and wave the other driver into traffic ahead of you is a small gesture of kindness that may influence this driver to do the same for someone else later.

When you go to the supermarket or store, do you hold the door open for a young woman holding her baby or do you just dart ahead through the door without stopping? 

When you are at work or classroom, do you say good morning to your colleagues or do you just go about your business without acknowledging their presence?

Or, how about those people you meet on the street that ask for money or who are peddling various goods? Do you ignore them, or give them no acknowledgement that they are also human and have feelings?

In democratic ages men rarely sacrifice themselves for another, but they show a general compassion for all the human race. One never sees them inflict pointless suffering, and they are glad to relieve the sorrows of others when they can do so without much trouble to themselves. They are not disinterested, but they are gentle.

If you were busy being kind, Before you knew it, you would find soon forget to think it was true that someone was unkind to you and If you were busy being glad, And cheering people who are sad, Although your heart might ache a bit, You'd soon forget to notice it..Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.