Daily question reflected upon by this list.
Today’s question : What is the most desirable trait another person can possess?
Unconditional kindness, hands down.
It’s easy to be kind to people you like. You want to be kind to them. You respect them, perhaps admire them, but either way there is something about them you identify with; their presence makes you happy. So you are kind to them. Not actually that tough.
It’s a whole different thing though, to be kind toward people you don’t like. It’s harder still to be kind to people who have offended, and/or hurt you on a deep, personal level and hardest most of all to be kind toward people that have done those things and aren’t the least bit sorry/refuse to take responsibility for the mean things they’ve said and done to and about you. That’s where I struggle the most, because when I remember those elite handful of people that have disgusted me to the point of nausea with their atrociously cruel behavior, my first thoughts are, “I hope a bird shits on your head every single time you walk out of your front door because you truly deserve nothing less.” I will admit, I think people like that are absolute dogshit.
Yet, I’ve tried to turn my mind away from those thoughts and focus on what I deserve rather than what they deserve, because what goes around truly does come back around. I’m not yet at the point where I “love my enemy” but I also know that I’m learning that life always catches up with you eventually. I was treated like crap for years from everyone around me and it was extremely painful and disheartening, but this last year it’s felt like life has been in overdrive to make it up to me, bringing me amazing luck, and extremely kind people into my life. I have to believe the opposite is true, too, and that the people that did a lot of awful things to me and who hurt me in some pretty devastating ways are, or will be, having to deal with the karmic consequences. Once you realize that about life, it makes it a lot easier to shrug your shoulders and leave people like that behind.
I am not a person who is, or can be, universally kind to everyone just yet because I have a lot of baggage to work through, but it’s something I look for in others for inspiration, and it’s something I would like to achieve one day myself.
Kell Frillman - Author 