WATWB – Kindness

Sing up for We Are The World Blogfest!
We Are The World Blogfest

It’s that time again, the last Friday of every month when bloggers around the world post a blog and spread some sunshine among the darkness that threatens to envelop our beautiful world. It’s the 18th in this series!

I nicked the below off a FB post – 

I liked this link from sagodnews.co.za. Seeing lovely photographs of humanity in action, or those of nature always bring a smile to my face. It’s good to picture a better world. You’re invited to #PictureABetterWorld – “Did you know there is a direct translation between seeing images of kindness and compassion and inducing joy, optimism and gratitude? Your photography can create change”.

“We see kindness in people every day. In people we know and those we haven’t met yet. People lending a hand, helping others, sharing a meal, a smile, or paying it forward. And self-kindness”.

Kindness – can you enter a kindness competition?

Eric Lahti, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg,Mary J. Giese and Roshan Radhakrishnan, are our co-hosts this month. Thank you! Do pop by their posts which are always inspiring. We welcome participants and encourage all to join in during future months. #WATWB is a blog hop on the last Friday of every month. Click HERE to check out the intention and rules of the blogfest and feel free to sign up at any time. You are always welcome!

Please SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list that opens up in a new window: Click HERE to be part of the Light.

Posts to be be 500 words or less & non-political and non-religious. The idea is to spread goodwill and humanity in action. Tell us why you liked the link.

Thank you for reading and have a great weekend.

50 Comments on WATWB

  1. So glad to read this post for WATWB susan; Kindness and compassion can bring in so much happiness and make a huge difference to the person who receives and the one who shares also feels blessed for the opportunity he/she got in able to reach out to another person.

  2. As the political nastiness and violence grow here, I try to remember the importance of kindness rather than sinking into despair. Just a smile and looking in a stranger’s eyes can mean a lot. It’s always possible to do one small thing as we try to tip the balance toward a saner and kinder world. Thank you, Susan. You definitely do your part.

    • I agree Elaine that a smile and looking into a stranger’s eyes can dispel darkness 🙂 Little ripples have an effect. From the micro to the macro .. May we all do our part as do you. Thank you…

  3. Hi Susan – this is so so true and the giver receives so much as well … help and general thoughtfulness engenders so much … love it – thanks for sharing … and wonderful to read of Gwynn’s tale … there are generous people out there and who are positive to the core – fantastic … cheers Hilary

    • That’s an important observation Hilary thanks for noting that the giver receives as much pleasure as well. Gwynn’s story is lovely – I recall you told of a similar incident not all that long ago .. 🙂 Thanks for coming by, Susan

      • Yes I did – the chap who paid for my groceries. Possibly in that instance I got more gratification as I was able to pass his generosity on … to others as well as via the blog post …

        I think I must sit and listen to others’ stories and perhaps at some stage do the same as Gwynn’s person …

        It always goes both ways … if there’s gratitude and thankfulness as the process happens … even now in the re-telling … cheers Hilary

          • BUT – when my chance came just now … I forgot to do it for the lady in front of me whose card didn’t work – she went out and returned to pay … I was not switched on – but perhaps understandable with what’s going on … life!!! Still that was a good story of mine … even though I say it myself!! Thanks for your reply …

  5. This is such a fabulous initiative. Kindness and compassion can truly change mindsets. Will check out this initiative on Insta and Twitter. Thanks for sharing this dose of positivity, Susan ♥

  6. This is wonderful, Susan. Kindness is the answer. A kindness competition is a wonderful way of giving recognition to those actions that positively change our world. We need the copycatters to copy kindness rather than the meanness and stupidity which seems to take precedence in the media.

  8. Thanks, Susan, for sharing the “Picture a Better World” hashtag. I will be looking for it on Instagram and Twitter. Seeing these positive photos is far better than some of the negative memes and photos on social media. It’s a great hashtag and story for WATWB.

  11. This is beautiful and inspiring Susan. Uplifting posts certainly raise our happiness level, what a fabulous idea! Great share! <3

  13. Dear Susan, Thank you so much for sharing more love and light in this world by way of WATWB. I love your #PictureABetterWorld story and will look out for the hashtag that showcases all the natural beauty, depth, grace and fragility of life. I’ve set up instagram already but am waiting on a new phone to start taking pictures! Yay! More creativity!

    I’m sure you’ve already read Naomi’s incredible and deeply moving poem, “Kindness” … yet for those who haven’t here’s a real treat. Warm autumnal (spring) blessings, Deborah.

    Kindness

    Before you know what kindness really is
    you must lose things,
    feel the future dissolve in a moment
    like salt in a weakened broth.
    What you held in your hand,
    what you counted and carefully saved,
    all this must go so you know
    how desolate the landscape can be
    between the regions of kindness.
    How you ride and ride
    thinking the bus will never stop,
    the passengers eating maize and chicken
    will stare out the window forever.

    Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
    you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
    lies dead by the side of the road.
    You must see how this could be you,
    how he too was someone
    who journeyed through the night with plans
    and the simple breath that kept him alive.

    Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
    you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
    You must wake up with sorrow.
    You must speak to it till your voice
    catches the thread of all sorrows
    and you see the size of the cloth.
    Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
    only kindness that ties your shoes
    and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
    only kindness that raises its head
    from the crowd of the world to say
    It is I you have been looking for,
    and then goes with you everywhere
    like a shadow or a friend.

    written by Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952
    .

    • OMG Deborah – this really speaks to me and will I’m sure to all who read it. These two lines I’ve excerpted show paradox in action and a deep sense of truth …

      ‘Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
      you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing’. .

      The whole poem is so beautiful, graphic. Thank you so much … I’ve printed it out and will take to a meeting I have this afternoon ..

      • Oh, that’s wonderful Susan, I hope you enjoy your meeting! I remember the day I first discovered this beautiful poem on kindness, I was in tears of joy! x

        • Just back from meeting – unfortunately the opportunity didn’t arise to say about it. But I have it, printed, to read again and again! Tears of joy indeed ..

  15. A positive story I heard is that my 83 year old friend and her husband went out to dinner. They were having fun reminiscing and the young man at the table next to them enjoyed listening to them so much that he paid for their dinners. So when my friend and her husband went to pay their tab, they learned that the young man already had paid for them. They were very moved that there STILL is kindness in the world.

  16. Seeing and reading about the kindness of others always inspires me to be a better person and to share that kindness. Thank you for this reminder.

  18. I’m so happy to see another post on kindness today. I just shared a link about “Sharing Kindness for Kids” found on Debby Gies’ website. You know I agree that there is a direct correlation between “seeing images of kindness and compassion and inducing joy, optimism and gratitude?”

    Bring it on, I say. Thanks for posting this positive incentive today and for the invitation to be part of the light!

    • Thanks Marian for coming by! I’ll be checking many of the #WATWB posts over the weekend and no doubt will see Debby Gies’ one. Have a great weekend 🙂

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