From Pixabay.com
I see them every day, memes designed to inspire us with words to remind us to be kind. Kindness no longer comes naturally in our world, yet we still strive to try to encourage it and set good examples. But what happens when the act becomes just another word and not an action? After all, look what happened to “thoughts” and “prayers,” as those words got caught in the crossfire of social media hate. As a side note, I find it amazing that we refer to online exchanges as “social” media when it is anything BUT. It’s anti-social and it remains that way because of the people who now embrace it.
Getting back to Kindness. The memes tell you to be kind to your neighbor, and a friend on your list might share it on their page. Down the road, as you socially follow them, you find out that those very people encouraging kindness in memes are on other “social” platforms showing us how UNkind they are in posts reflecting a very different reality. Proof that you can’t hide from the Internet.
So what do we do? We lead by the example of our actions to show others exactly how we are displaying kindness, rather than tell us in a meme on a small screen. (That’s like donating without actually making the donation!)
Rather than demand that others copy and paste to their walls what you posted aout kindness, ask them to go out there and show you and make a video to share instead. The more positive kindness videos that go viral, the more positive the energy around you and others.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
Published in Medium.com on November 1, 2022