Making some effort to help somebody, while getting no direct benefit to yourself is called kindness. This benefits the person receiving the kindness and it also benefits those who show kindness.
Many self-help books state that one way to lessen the impact of worries on yourself is to think about somebody else. Being kind to somebody means that you are thinking about ways to improve another person’s happiness. While you are thinking about how to help others, you cannot think at the same time about whatever is causing stress in your life.
Kindness comes in many forms, some of which are very easy and others require a lot of effort. It could mean letting a car into the queue in front of you, at the easy end of the scale, or giving somebody financial help which is towards the other end of the scale.
When we let a car into the queue we are in, we trust that in future somebody will do the same for us, but if we give money to a beggar or a big issue seller, we will probably not see any favour in return.
Do we require recognition for being kind? One difference between letting a car into a queue and giving financial help is the scale of the commitment.
Another is that the recipient will know who is giving them financial help, but it is unlikely that the driver let into the queue will know who has helped them.
Why should we be kind? Because it benefits both parties and makes the world a slightly happier place.
If everybody did at least one kind thing every day, this may inspire the person who received the kindness to be kind to another person. So an act of kindness could cause other acts of kindness, but we will never know.
Geoff Peck from Woosehill Church writing on behalf of Churches Together Wokingham
