“Being a strong man includes being kind. There’s nothing weak about kindness and compassion. There’s nothing weak about looking out for others. You’re not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect.”

President Barack Obama in his Eulogy for Elijah Cummings, 2019

“When I say, ‘Be kind to one another,’ I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean ‘Be kind to everyone. It doesn’t matter.‘ “

Ellen Degeneres, TV Celebrity, talking about President George W Bush, 2019

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.“

Galatians 5 22-24

When I became ill last year and had come to terms with the diagnosis of a terminal condition, and decided on a daily prayer to say when I woke up – and I added a variation of Ellen’s catch phrase to it… mine was simply “be kind to everyone today”…. so my waking up prayer is this:

• Thank you God that I woke up alive today;
• Thank you God for Jane and Toby’s strength, determination, patience and unconditional love for getting me as far as today;
• Lord help me to find a silver lining in something I do today. This means achieving some task well, or achieving something I haven’t been able to do for a year or simply doing something to lighten the load for Jane and Toby – or indeed for any other friend;
• Give me sufficient physical and mental stamina today;
• Lord help me be kind to everyone I meet today – in thought and word and deed.

Some scientific (?) evidence about kindness

When I typed “kindness” into Google one of the results was a news article on the BBC which was quite fascinating. Grab a cup of coffee and go read it here.

Why being kind could help you live longer: BBC News 11 Nov 2019