{"id":1604,"date":"2017-09-27T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T18:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/?p=1604"},"modified":"2017-09-27T23:21:38","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T03:21:38","slug":"a-necessary-kind-of-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/?p=1604","title":{"rendered":"a necessary kind of kindness…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c Shall we make a new rule of life\u2026\u00a0 always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?\u201d a wonderful quote from\u00a0 J. M. Barrie in The Little White Bird<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a marvelous line, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Kinder than is necessary.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s not enough to be kind.\u00a0 One should be kinder than needed.\u00a0 Why I love that line, that concept, is that it reminds me that we carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0 and this comes from a book that I love called Wonder by R. J. Palacio\u00a0 I recommend this book, as a really lovely read, and wonderfully, wonderfully important.<\/p>\n

I know, you may think \u2018blah, blah, blah\u2026\u2019\u00a0 this is something I write (and speak about) often – kindness.\u00a0 The simple act of being kind.\u00a0 Which it appears, is not always
\nso simple.
\nAs mentioned in an earlier post, I am currently watching Ken Burns\u2019 The Vietnam War, in last night episode 8 –\u00a0 US soldiers senselessly slaughtered (what was described as) \u00a0some 500 old men, women and children, in an act of what could be called,\u00a0 I suppose,\u00a0 utter desperation.
\nMy husband comes in and I say to him, \u201cHow could someone kill\u2026\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a child?\u201d
\nNow I am not inviting personal attack, or social debate here –\u00a0 \u2018You don\u2019t know, or You don\u2019t understand\u2019 –\u00a0 I have no wish to denigrate or diminish what men and women in service to their country do.
\nIt is true,\u00a0 I don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 I hope never to have to, but I do show respect and try to understand other perspectives from people who surely know
\nmore than I.
\nI also have great empathy for people on all sides, in all capacities – in their own countries and villages, just trying to make their way in the world\u2026 as best they can.\u00a0 And I have compassion for us as humans, who don\u2019t always make the choice,
\nof kindness.
\nThis is also why\u2026
\nI am watching this ten part series.
\nWar of course is an extreme case of unkindness, but it bears thinking about just how \u2026
\nwe get
\nthere.<\/p>\n

A friend posts about an incident where people have been unkind. Unnecessarily ridiculed and bullied her in ridiculous fashion.\u00a0 Making an ordinary workday rather arduous, weighing heavily on her spirit.\u00a0 In a show of solidarity comments pour in of support and Love, which this friend fully deserves. \u00a0But some call the individuals involved spiteful names, and snap of revenge tactics.
\nThis always makes me a bit sad.\u00a0 As I don\u2019t understand ever the mentality of meeting unkindness, with unkindness.\u00a0 How does the drinking of the poison offered by someone else,\u00a0 cure us of said poison?<\/p>\n

I know, \u2018You don\u2019t understand, You don\u2019t know, You\u2019re just soft-hearted.\u2019
\nmaybe \u2026<\/p>\n

There is someone that I have the occasion to encounter several times a week,\u00a0 who for some odd reason, just rubs me the wrong way.\u00a0 I\u2019m not even sure, what exactly it is, but it started just after we were introduced.\u00a0 At first it made me somewhat uncomfortable, but not as to search for the reasons I found it hard to \u2018like\u2019 this person –\u00a0 more as it made me look at \u2013 is this the kind of person
\nI am
\nor wish to be?
\nAn unkind person.
\nSo in daily encounters I am somewhat indifferent to this person \u2013 I am after all still fallibly human,\u00a0 but I consciously make it my choice, and remind myself to try to come from a place of kindness.\u00a0 As it is always up to me,\u00a0 what I wish to honour
\nin
\nmyself.<\/p>\n

So I guess, what I\u2019m thinking about today is values and choices, understanding and compassion
\nopen mindedness, and the importance of necessary and even
\nunnecessary peaceful
\nkindness.<\/p>\n

and reminding ourselves, that it is always in us
\nto choose<\/p>\n

… yeah, that\u2019s it,
\nsame as every day \u2026\u00a0 \u2665<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c Shall we make a new rule of life\u2026\u00a0 always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?\u201d a wonderful quote from\u00a0 J. M. Barrie in The Little White Bird \u201cWhat a marvelous line, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Kinder than is…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1604"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1610,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions\/1610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}