Kindness: A True Game Changer
Written by guest blogger, Gowtham Natarajan
As you stroll down the busy hallway at school during lunch with a group of friends, you look over and see a kid eating lunch by himself. But what do you do next?
Do you keep walking thinking he chose to sit there?
Go over to him and ask if he has anyone to spend his thirty-minute lunch break with?
Offer to have him eat with you and your friends?
This is probably a situation that many of us have encountered at one point or another. The question is, however, what did you do about it?
For many of us, option one seems the easiest, as we don’t need to go out of our way to interact with someone that we have never met. But for the select few that choose to talk to this individual and offer to eat with him, this type of behavior is commonplace. In other words, these people are probably used to being kind to others. And it is small actions such as these that make all the difference.
We live in a world where it’s becoming increasingly “weird” to be nice to others. But the question is, why? Since when did heartfelt gestures start to become a bad thing? The truth is, they haven’t. What’s actually happening is that so many of us in today’s society have our attention focused solely on ourselves. In doing this, we lose sight of the bigger picture. And what starts out as one person with this tendency blossoms into a group, a community, a city, a state, a country, and even a world that focuses on themselves, losing sight of extending kindness to others.
The truth is, being kind is not weird, but actually quite the opposite. Being the only one who goes out of your way to put a smile on someone else’s face will set you apart from many people. Kindness allows you to be a trend-setter in 2019, with your actions acting as a domino that leads to a world of kindness. So, the next time you see “that kid” sitting alone or an opportunity to help someone, do it! Because it is people like you who are remembered by others forever. As the inspiring Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
About Gowtham:
A high school senior in the Bay Area, Gowtham reached out to Gratitude Habitat expressing a desire to contribute to our blog. A believer in the power of gratitude, Gowtham says, “life moves too fast, and we often don’t have enough time to be grateful for the people and things around us.” As a writer, he was in search of a forum to showcase his thoughts about how to make a positive impact in the world. We are grateful for his contribution.
