Kindness of Strangers
I love the kindness of strangers. I don’t mean the grand gestures we read about on popular social media sites, I mean sure – we’d all love to pay for a family’s meal out of the goodness of our bank balance, or donate a large sum of money to a struggling person for something that will make his or her life inimitably better… an all singing all dancing Apple Mac for example, would improve my writing no end… should you feel inclined – but no, that’s not the sort of kindness I mean.
It’s the smaller things, the things that could go unnoticed by everyone except those on the receiving end. The things that could, quite literally, change a day, a mood, who knows, maybe it could change a life.
Overcooking it?
Honestly? No. I really don’t think so.
We live such fast-paced lives, everything instant, on demand, droned to our doorstep before we’ve even ordered it – okay maybe that’s just on TV, but it’ll happen soon enough… maybe in time for you to order me that Apple Mac? I’m kidding – but somebody taking a moment to tell me they’ve enjoyed something I’ve written, or that they like my coat, or my hair, or my children. Or the look on someone’s face when you do the same to them. Out of the blue. As you pass on a path, whilst out walking the dog.
However superficial some of these compliments may be, you know what? It makes a difference. That somebody not just thought something, but said it, out loud, makes it real. It gives it weight. It gives you that warm feeling inside that puts a smile on your face and lifts your mood.
Even if it is the bigger stuff. Going the extra mile for someone. Taking on their cause as your own because you believe you can make a difference, as Rhys and Kat do for Susan in my debut novel, How To Mend A Broken Heart. Kindness on any level is something we need more of in this world.
Kindness. Acceptance. Generosity of spirit. Forgiveness. Self-acceptance. Unconditional love. These are things that inspired the story in my book. That someone can make a difference in somebody else’s life, without realizing that’s what they were about to sign up for. That a person who has effectively opted out of their own life because to live it is too painful.
To take risks might bring more sadness despite the chance of happiness it could bring them instead. With kindness, those people around us might feel they have a strength to take great risks, and with that risk, happiness might just swaddle them enough for that it to seem less great the next time round. And the next. And the next. Don’t they say feel the fear and do it anyway? You can, if you’re strong enough.
Kindness, in whatever form, to strangers or otherwise, is something we can easily overlook when we’re busy, stressed, pressured. And yet, it’s a gift that works both ways. It’s a breath of wind beneath both your wings if you’re open to give it and open to receive.
And look! I wrote all this without the Apple Mac, so maybe I don’t need it after all…
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Anna’s first brush with ‘fame’ was as a magician’s assistant back in 1977. She later decided that being sawn in half by her father – at barely 6 months old – was too submissive a role, vowing to channel the trauma in to something much more pro-actively creative.
Having failed at acting, singing and professional murder mystery parties (she was ALWAYS the one to die!), she fell to something much more solitary: writing. How To Mend a Broken Heart is her first novel and her life was not on the line in order to write it. Anna lives on a dairy farm in Cornwall with her two children, her husband, and her ex-racing greyhound, Olive Dog.
www.feelthefearandwriteitanyway.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/AnnaMansellAuthor/
Category: On Writing
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