Kindland, Ohio, Encourages Kindness Again and Again and…

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I first mentioned Kindland to my readers about a year or so ago. Kindland is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio just outside of Cleveland. The word is determined from a word formula: Kind (ness) + cleve (Land). It stems from the Values in Action Foundation which fosters values education in local schools in most states in the U.S. The City of Cleveland was the first city to adopt the concept of Kindland, a process of engaging businesses, schools, influential citizens, the medical community, the government, and other civic organizations “to create and sustain a sense of kindness.” Kindland provides an explanatory website you can easily follow for information on membership, activities, and sponsorships. Some of you might be thinking that you don’t need an organization to remind you to be kind. Fair enough. But you just might learn something becoming part of this organization, something that will help in your profession or family life. I once responded to an invitation to give a workshop on kindness for the employees of a senior living community. Not long after, the same community requested I give a workshop on kindness to the residents of that community. The general consensus was that most people think that good manners is kindness when, in fact, kindness goes deeper than manners.

Which brings me to two examples of kindness in real life, examples totally unexpected which makes them memorable as acts of kindness.

My friend Bob was walking from his office in Cleveland on a crisp Good Friday morning, on his way to lead the Stations of the Cross at a Catholic venue. A man approached him and requested a donation for food. Bob asked if he could take the man into the grocery store across the street and help him get what he needed. The man said he was banned from the store because he had been caught shoplifting there. So, Bob made a list, went into the store, and purchased what the man, who waited outside, needed. A homeless man and a successful attorney stood at a busy street corner, outside the grocery store, one man smiling a broken smile as he took the bag of groceries and thanked his benefactor; the other man feeling the awareness taking hold in his heart that Jesus was the one who had asked for this kindness. 

A few weeks ago, I heard a eulogy at the funeral of a son of two very dear friends of mine, Pat and Mary Ann. Chris died suddenly and too soon at age 48. But what a legacy his children will cherish from him. His son, Ethan, fought desperately to check his tears as he recounted that after finishing a track meet at his school, he and his dad went somewhere to eat and order a takeout to bring home. On leaving the restaurant they saw a man in tattered clothing sleeping against the wall of a building. The man had torn and dirty shoes. Chris bent over and tucked the take home dinner near the man and immediately took off the spanking new shoes he had just purchased through a mail order and placed them tightly under the sleeping man’s coat. Ethan said in bowed reverence: “My dad drove home barefoot that night.” 

Later I learned that Chris had also emptied his closet and took some of his best clothes to a couple he had met who were homeless and said they had been sleeping in a tent in nearby woods. The man told Chris he needed good clothing for a job interview he had coming up. Chris found their tent and gave the man good clothing for his interview. 

Reflection

An act of kindness is almost always unexpected both for the giver and the receiver. It indicates that the giver lives kindness by praying to be kind and by examining his or her soul frequently to see where failures may have occurred or where one did not respond with kindness in a situation. Kindness is not an add on; it is not extended only when expected—say a funeral or a hospital visit, or a fund-raising event. We have to work to make kindness our very nature so that when we smile or reach out to anyone, even the bratty neighborhood kid, we let them in, we let them know we see Christ in them. Kindness is felt in our touch, our smile, our words, our willingness to show our own vulnerabilities. 

Why not try this week to practice The Examen, inspired by Ignatius of Loyola. This is a simple prayer usually said at the end of the day when we think through the events that have  impacted our spirituality. Simply put, the prayer’s framework is: Give Thanksgiving, Ask for the Spirit, Recognize Your Failures of the Day, Ask for Forgiveness, Pray About the Next Day. This prayer should only take 15 minutes. In the prayer you can reflect on when and how you may have been kind to someone, (Give Thanksgiving) or perhaps failed to be kind (Ask for Forgiveness). Mark Thibodeaux, SJ, has written a fine brief book on The Examen and I find his Chapter 12, Who Wore Your Face for Me Today? to be a guide in recognizing when Christ asked for my kindness today. 

We may not be able to change major global policies or achieve peace between Israel and Gaza and Russia and Ukraine; we may not even be successful negotiators for peace in our American cities and even our families torn by political dissent. But we can bring about loving kindness in our own small ways that will have a ripple effect in the bigger picture. Kindness is contagious. People never forget it. Ask God every night, Who Wore Your Face for Me Today? Like Bob and Chris, you will be grateful for the opportunity to be kind and for the wisdom to do it again the next day. Again. And again, and again. Be kind!

Be kind, all of you, my Anonymous Angels, and my faithful readers. Let us pray for each other.