A TIME FOR KINDNESS

Too often there is a lack of inspiration, of humanity and of goodwill in today’s world.

World leaders lying – or at best obfuscating; the normalising and acceptance of human rights abuses; the climate going nuts yet the denial sycophants say nothing is wrong; un-civil wars creating massive humanitarian crisis; xenophobic rantings about people who are different … the list goes on. The template is that to get ahead in the world you have to beat down all opposition and appeal to the lowest ebb of thought. You have to be tough, yell and bully your way through or else ‘they’ will take advantage of you. We seem more and more willing to accept this behaviour and irrationality from people in the spotlight and each other.

So where do we turn to shed some hope and light?

Japan’s world cup soccer team.

Not only did they do really well on the field, they attracted world wide acclaim when, after they lost in the knockout stage, they tidied up their change room and left a note – in Russian – to say thank-you. The Senegalese team did the same through the group stage. After their group stage match both Japanese and Senegalese supporters were also seen picking up rubbish from the stadium terraces before they left.

It was a simple act of respect, yet it was reported across the world as some kind of quaint, strange thing to do. When doing something thoughtful, kind and pleasant is being seen as being exceptional we must stop and question what is going on. It is readily noticeable that people are more intolerant and less willing to accept mistakes or omissions. Yet this time of significant change and disruption is exactly the time to practice more random kindness. We should all take a lead from the ‘Blue Samurai’ and be thankful and kind to each other even during times of stress.

Cheers

Fred