Be Kind, Be Kind, Be Kind

 As I noted in my previous blog post, "Braving the Wilderness", somewhere along the way, probably in the midst of reading "Living Untethered" highlighted below, I softened my view, I came to realize how special each and every student was, and what each of them brought to the classroom.  There's no doubt, it is quite the menagerie of personalities, abilities and work habits, but they are all special.

I came to realize that about many of my colleagues around campus.  I struggled at first with some of the interaction, I was used to the corporate environment where if you sent an e-mail, a question or request, you got a reply back, usually, relatively promptly.  I had many instances where I wouldn't get any replies at all.  I finally gave up and would just walk across campus and go talk to the person, which was probably what I should have been doing in the first place.

In any event, the following is the message I sent my students at the end of the year.  I also sent it to some of my colleagues, who had been particularly helpful supporting me through my first semester.  

Michael Singer got me started, he has some beautiful passages in "Living Untethered", it took me back to my favorite sermon from Dr. Tom Long, "Be Kind, Be Kind, Be Kind", which I heard over 30 years ago, and wore out a cassette tape, playing it over and over again.  And how could I ever go wrong quoting one of my greatest heroes, Mr. Rogers?

Final Thoughts

As we close the semester and head into the holiday season, I’ll leave you with a few thoughts.  Most of what I ever come up with isn’t original, I love to quote my favorite authors, theologians, heroes. 

From Michael Singer in “Living Untethered”:

“The mind continually grasps on to what is coming into your senses, it focuses on thoughts, emotions.  When you quiet the mind, you can truly see the incredibly beautiful person inside of you.  God made you and God made you beautiful.”

From my favorite sermon from Dr. Tom Long:

“Kindness is a refusal to look at other people in the light of how they are in the present tense and an insistence on looking at them in the light of what God is making of them in God’s future.  To put it bluntly, kindness is an act of civil disobedience.  It’s a refusal to treat people according to the customs and the mores and the traditions of the status quo of the world around us and an insistence on seeing them and treating them in light of who they will become in God’s future.”

And from one of my greatest heroes, Mr. Rogers:

“You’ve made this day a special day by just your being you.  There’s no person in the whole world like you.  And I like you just the way you are.”

Finally, one last comment from Dr. Long:

“There are only three things important in human life: be kind, be kind, be kind.”

See the incredibly beautiful person inside of you.  See the beauty of everything, and everyone, around you.  And be kind, including, especially, to yourself.

Have a great holiday.