I was thinking about acts of kindness a few times this week and whether they count if they are done sort of begrudgingly. There is a spot in my commute from school where there are only 2 lanes of traffic. One lane is always backed way up with people waiting to merge onto the Yellowhead. There are so many times that someone zooms past everyone in the other lane and then signals to get in at the front of the line- blocking the other lane while doing so. Every fiber of my being tells me "we are NOT under ANY circumstances, letting this guy in!" It's really a matter of principle! I really feel like by letting this person in I'm losing in some way, or enabling them to keep doing it again. Of course there are the poor people stuck behind this guy so I guess by letting them in it could be an act of kindness to those drivers, but still if I let him in and I'm saying "your an idiot" to them in my head do I count it?
A garbage bag in the alley a few houses down from me was ripped open last week and there was nasty garbage all over the alley. I walk my dog that way 3 times a day and he would always manage to eat some of this grossness. At first I figured that the owners of the garbage didn't know it was ripped open, but then as new bags showed up I realized they had no plans to clean it up. Working in a vet clinic I see the effects of dogs with "garbage guts" and couldn't stand to know my dog managed to eat some every time we passed. I bit the bullet and went to clean it up. The entire time I was cleaning I was cursing these people, and the fact that the majority of the garbage was cigarette butts, greasy take out and rotting chicken bits didn't help. Was this really an act of kindness or does that fact that I got no satisfaction out of doing it cancel it out? Do I just need to work on my own enlightenment? Hmmm. What do you guys think?
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I think this is really really interesting, though I see it the exact opposite. For some reason, I feel as though the hardest ones are the ones that count most. It's hard because you don't want to do it, but you do it because it is the right thing to do, because it lines up with what you believe in. If anything, I find it's the easy ones that don't feel like they count. Now I'm doubting myself too.
ReplyDeleteRichard Leung
I agree with Mr Leung. They count more. Plus you have all the added benefit of heaps of self-reflection.
ReplyDeleteI concur. A thought is to look beyond the obvious here and consider who the act of kindness is really for. Cleaning up garbage is taking care of Mother Earth and her creatures. As for the traffic thing, it may be an act of kindness to a person 4 cars behind you who really needs to get somewhere.
ReplyDeleteYou are setting the example of what we are trying to show others, but I don't think there is anything wrong with calling a spaid a spaid. Why keep that bottled inside? Maybe you could say " your an idiot, but have a nice day!"
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