Since I returned from my vacation hiatus to the constant bombardment of news about the 2016 election, the seemingly constant terror attacks and the attacks on young black men, and increasingly so, police, I have felt the urge to write about how helpless I feel watching the earth implode on itself.
A number of different narratives have gone through my head: how the election gets too much attention, how people need to understand a movement is meant to focus on one topic that needs addressing i.e. how the number of black people killed/population of black people is statistically outrageous compared to the number of white people killed/population of white people (sorry, All Lives Matter, people, safe yourselves the trouble and stop reading). But none of those seemed appropriate because like all news worthy topics, they’re divisive, pushing people apart and creating additional problems for the world, when that’s the last thing I wanted to do.
So instead, I decided to write about the one thing I know to be true in this life. And I’m serious, there is only one thing I know that is true in this entire life. Granted, I’ve only lived 22 years but still, there are millions of things I don’t know. I don’t know which political party is better for America, I don’t know how to stop IS from killing innocent people, I don’t know the secret to preventing terrorist attacks in France. I don’t know if the secret to decreasing gun attacks is preventing them or increasing them. Nor do I know if the best way to have a healthier population is to give healthcare to all or to simply leave it to the free market and I’m not sure what the right answer is the heroin epidemic in my beloved Vermont or the overcrowding of prisons all across the country. Don’t look to me for answers about how to make people understand feminism is beneficial for everyone. And I definitely don’t know how to turn Haiti into a thriving democracy that it deserves to be (although I do know a thing or two about how to increase sanitation access in the country – see here).
I pretend to know a lot about all of these subjects. I argue with the conviction and the passion of someone who has finally discovered the secret to solving all of the world’s issues if only the ignorant people of the world would open their eyes and listen to me. And when someone challenges me, my voice level rises or I stomp away, dismayed that these people don’t see how right I am and how wrong they are. But in reality, often times I don’t have the least clue of what I’m talking about, I just know I want to be right. And if I may be so bold, I’m sure you pretend to quite a bit about these subjects as well, just to be right every once and while. But that’s okay. I’m convinced it’s because we all secretly want to the world to be a better place and we all have our own ideas about how to make that happen.
But the one thing I know to be true also happens to be something that may improve the status of this planet in the eyes of other planets. The one thing I know to be true & effective is to be kind. No harm comes from waking up each morning and setting the intention to not be an a**hole to the people you encounter. In fact, only good things can come from not being an a**hole and actually recognizing the people around you as human and wanting to help them for that reason. Not helping them because they will return the favor or because they belong to the same political party as you or because if you help them in a specific way they’ll recognize that the ACA is the only solution to healthcare or that immigration in the US does need to be more regulated.
It’s a simple solution and there may be greater ways to make a positive impact on this world like writing a letter to your local police station, gathering signatures for a cause you believe in, running for local office, or volunteering. But those things take time and although I like to think of myself as a wholesome and loving person, I’m also selfish and self-centered and I don’t always want to take the time to do those things when I could be reading novels or watching The Great British Baking Show.
So instead, I practice kindness. I practice putting people’s needs, everyone, not just the people I care about, in front of my own when I can. I practice listening to other people’s points of views because acknowledging their right to an opinion and not berating them is kindness. I practice smiling at strangers and holding the door open and writing thank you notes. I am not kind, I can be jealous and self centered and anxious. But I practice kindness because sometimes this world feels so helpless that the only thing left to do is revert back into yourself and find one little thing to offer that will succeed, amidst all of the grand offers that may or may not fail.