“Kindness toward others and radical kindness to ourselves buy us a shot at a warm and generous heart, which is the greatest prize of all.”― Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy
I keep thinking, as I hear the news– where is the kindness? I mean, do powerful people– or letter-to-the editor writers– ever say to themselves, how would I feel if what I just said about LGBTQ+ people, or the un-homed, or historical trauma, or immigrants or the poor or schoolteachers or a politician was directed toward someone I love? — Can’t we at least try to make everything we say about someone we don’t know the same as if we are sitting right next to them, and that they are a child that we do know– and what’s more, that we just adore and would never harm? Is that too much to ask?