At my work , the other side of the road there is a tea vendor, he is an old man with small tea shop on four wheels. he has regular customers. office goers , young old corporate people go to him for morning tea or evening tea. he cooks tea well , honest and loyal to his customer. I don’t know his name but I call him ‘kaka’. ‘kaka’ in Hindi is a name to an old man in respect. he often wears same clothes every day from morning to evening. he do not have enough clothes to wear since he is poor. I don’t know if he has kids or not , may be he does but they never accompany him at his tea stall. he takes care of his business alone. at night around 10 pm he leaves and put his tea stall at the parking lot of one multi million dollar company. the security guards of this company are quite generous to him to make him leave his cart at the parking lot.
This man comes to work at 6 am and leaves at 10 pm , he is an old man close to 60 years, but he is kind to every one , to his customers , no matter what conditions he works under , he never forgets his responsibility which is to be ‘kind’ to everyone.
But he is not alone . he also have a pet dog which stays with him around the cart. its a street dog , not owned by anyone. a stray dog which strays around the streets for food. dirty but healthy dog. of course street dogs never take shower. so this dog is no different. he has a name too ‘ KALU’. ‘KALU’ in Hindi means black. this dog black in color is famous among people. he kind of invite people to come and drink tea. those who are kind to animals, give their love and support to the animal. in appreciation kalu also wags its tail and bark and play around people. sometimes people too offer him biscuits. its a sweet gesture and kind tale which I see every day at work. it makes my day and makes me think that human instead of being violent in nature does have the kindness in him. its the choice we make ‘we kind or we violent’ its our call what we choose and we get as what we deliver.
Kindness is a way to life. its a choice we make to be a kind person and it helps us to communicate better. human in general is more attracted to kindness. people who are kind have always invited more people in groups and are socially active. some people are kind by nature and some can cultivate this habit in them. it comes by practice. you practice kindness by being showing love and support for others. you become kind by taking an extra step to help someone. caring genuinely for others around you knowing that others too have the same kind of aspiration, goals, fears , needs and wants. its important to know that feeling the way how other’s feel is an important act to kindness because then you will know the true value of how it feel if you will go through the same.
Lets also be aware of people who carry fake kindness. an act of people pleaser is not kindness. there are plenty who are selfish and self centered. who simply kind enough to people to manipulate things and controlling them is not an act of kindness. people also use fake kindness to hide their anger and frustration behind false pleasantries is not kindness. anyone who fakes it makes himself / herself visible to people and we can recognize it. we humans are programed in such a way that we can easily guess who is faking and who is natural. lets beware of such dual personalities who make of use if their charm only to get benefit out of others. lets not be selfish this much , lets be kind to others naturally.
Its good to be kind to others but lets not forget that you too are human. I am kind man but its important for me to be kind to myself too. before I be kind to others I should be kind to myself. how I do it ? its good to know yourself better , self realization is important , no one knows you better than any other on this planet. if there is any one who claims that he / she knows everything about you , is wrong. its simply not possible to know everything about anyone. there has to be some aspect of personality which only you know about yourself but others don’t. know yourself everyday. sometimes it happens that one trait of your personality which you are unaware of accidently comes into picture and then you say ”gosh ! I did not know about this factor in me” . self knowledge is important , it allows you to study your pain and happiness ,sorry and anguish and your conflicts, it also lets you know that part of your personality which you are not aware of. focus on yourself and be kind so that you be kind enough to others.
We often say that ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’. but tell me how many people follow this rule ? very few right. yes indeed this is because people lack action , its because people only talk and talk all the way till its too late to do any action. so lets be present for someone who need us the most. lets make sure that we are there at all cost for the person you care the most , you love the most. if not for the one you can die ,at least you can do the same for someone who is a stranger to you by only being kind to him / her. this person will remember you always and who knows if he / she shows kindness to you also someday. help a person , go an extra mile to take further step and to make sure that you will be there. don’t make promises which you can not keep. remember you can not control everything. but you can control your actions , your words, you can control your decisions. be little calculative to understand the consequences and aftermath. be a good listener. its one of the most important aspect of being kind. listen to people , know their words and their values, understand them and then take actions and be kind.
The act of kindness come with no expectations. lets not expect people to be kind to you. in a world we live today if you are being kind to others ,its unusual. since people don’t do it regularly. but don’t think of how others are thinking of you for being kind. its an act which should always be there in us. no matter what , an act of kindness should come from inside. its source should be our soul. it should be without expectations. ask for nothing in return.
Lets not be selective in kindness. if you are neglecting being kind to someone just because you think that person will do fine without you, then you are doing selective kindness. lets not do this. lets not be selective and choose people ,whom should be kind with and whom we should not is not right. we should be kind to everyone the way we want to be to ourselves. lets not forget that same person does have fears, insecurities , problems, sorrow, pain , ambitions and goals. lets respect it and take kindness the way it should be.
Being kind is a special quality we humans are born with. we all have sense of kindness but its again comes down to what we choose. do we choose to be kind to ourselves and others or choose to be violent and control. its in our hands. but remember this always, you harm others , it will come to you , you love others it will come to you. you want kindness from people show kindness to them. you will be loved by all.
Someone said I have very sweet and kind personality . I don’t know how much is the truth in it but if it is like this then its my identity. we can never loose our identity no matter where we are. enjoy you originality like I am enjoying mine.
Dheeraj Gautam 