Kindness
As the new school year begins, students
meet their new teachers and new classmates.
Making friends can be more difficult for some students than for others.
Empathy is a feeling that goes beyond sympathy, which is ‘feeling with’ compassion for another person. According to Psychology Today, “Empathy is the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling. Empathy is known to increase prosocial (helping) behaviors.”
If more people
are able to feel empathy in our society, people may be able to share their
burdens with other members of society. Such
burdens may include financial, domestic, job-related, or health problems. If more people take the time to place
themselves in others’ shoes and feel what others go through, members of our
society may be able to receive encouragement and even healing.
In the Each
Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, Chloe was not kind to Maya, a new student
at her school. Maya looked different
from her and she was wearing sneakers with a broken strap.
When Maya sat next to Chloe and looked at her
with a smile, Chloe looked away. She played with her close friends in
the playground, without paying any attention to Maya. This persisted for a couple of weeks.
Maya didn’t come to school one day. That day, the
teacher put a pail of water and a stone on top of the teacher’s desk. She asked the class to look inside the
pail. When she dropped the stone into
the pail, circular waves formed and they grew larger and larger.
The teacher explained how each kindness, even
trying to feel a classmate’s pain, would spread like the ripples. She invited
every student to drop a stone into the pail of water as they shared any small
act of kindness they offered to others. Everybody except Chloe came up one by
one and dropped the stone and shared about the kindness they offered.
Chloe couldn’t think of any kindness that she
offered. She regretted that she didn’t include Maya in her play group.
The following day, Maya didn’t come to school
again. The teacher said that Maya moved
to another school. Chloe felt like a
heavy stone was pressing her heart as she realized that she lost her chance to
show a little act of kindness to Maya forever.
Why don't we take every opportunity to practice random acts of kindness
every day by being kind and thoughtful to each
other?
