The world is in need of a lot of kindness today. Kindness must start one person at a time. I must first be kind to others before I can expect others to be kind to me. Am I kind to those around me? To family, friends and strangers on the street? How should I demonstrate my kindness? How do I show my caring? Can you be kind without loving the other person? What is the differences between love, caring and kindness? Or are they cut from the same cloth?
One of challenges we all face is accepting people who are different than ourselves. And I am not talking here about race, culture, religion or nationality. I'm talking about the little things that separate people. Is there someone in your life who talks too much or too little? Are there people who you perceive to be stuck-up or unfriendly? Do you dislike fat people or sloppy people? Is there someone in your life who is too organized or too thin? Do you think all poets are crazy and should get paying jobs like the rest of us? Do you not like the way someone combs his hair or the clothes he wears?
Are you gentle in your relationships with others or do you run over people like a Mack truck? Do you act like it is your way or the highway? When I read the life stories of artists and writers, I find some to be temperamental and self-centered as well as mean and cruel to those they love. They abuse others. But my question is does it have to be this way. Can an artist or writer be kind and caring to the people in his life and still be a creative leader? I think true strength comes in being gentle with others.
As artists and writers, we often can be most abusive with ourselves. Our art never lives up to our expectations. The finished product is never as good as we saw it in our mind's eye. We should learn to accept the gifts that we have been given and not compare our work to that of other people. We are not them. We are each unique in the gifts that we have been given. We need to be gentle with ourselves.
