Spread Kindness

This year, April 12th is known as National Day of Silence. This national day was arranged by students protesting against bullying and harassment of the LBGTQ community. The first ever National Day of Silence was organized by students of the University of Virginia in 1996.

This day is in honor of those who have suffered from mistreatment for their sexual orientation. Today, there are still many racist and anti-gay people in society. The fight against unjust treatment continues.

In honor of National Day of Silence, I want to plant a seed of thought in your mind about how we treat others, and why it’s so important to be kind. My intention is not to take away from LBGTQ rights in any way, but instead to focus on the importance of kindness and its impact on humanity.

Here are a few reasons why you should be kind to everyone around you:

• You never know what someone else is going through. We all fight battles, internally and externally. Life isn’t necessarily a walk in the park for any of us, and some of us handle life’s obstacles better than others. That piece of love you spread with your kindness could be the encouragement that person needed.

• Someone else’s choices–sexual orientation, religion, ,– is not any one else’s business, nor does it have an impact on your own life. The religion another person practices, or whom someone chooses to love, doesn’t have to have an impact on your life. You are free to make your own choices, just as someone else is free to choose their own path. How someone else lives should not be taken personally by you–or, rather, you shouldn’t change how you treat someone based on their beliefs.

• Your act of kindness may be the only kindness that person receives that day. If you smile at or compliment someone, you could be tremendously impacting that person’s life. They could be having the worst day, and your small, priceless act of kindness could change their whole day around.

• Put yourself in their shoes. When you judge someone, that same judgment could easily be cast upon you. When you are mean to someone, imagine how you’d feel if someone treated you that way. Every single human being has their own feelings that could be damaged by the way you treat them.

Please be kind. We’re all in this together. We all have demons to battle, obstacles to overcome, feelings to experience, lessons to learn. The least we could do for each other on this journey called life is to be kind and patient with each other.

No one knows why we’re here, but we are. The most valuable expression on the planet we could have, in my opinion, is the love we give and the healing we provide for others’ souls.

Remember: How you treat others is a direct representation of how you feel about yourself. Your flaws and insecurities are exposed when you treat another life as being inferior to you.

All life is deserving, all life is worthy, all life is valuable.

By: KayLynn P.