This post is a reboot. Originally posted in 2016 when I was introducing my readers to the Fletchifesto. Looking back, that was a different time all around. No one had been exposed to the Covid_19 pandemic, mask mandates, or quarantines. There had not yet been a Donald Trump presidency. Wildfires had not ravaged much of the Western US. This was before we experienced the regular and senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmad Arberry, Trayvon Martin, and Breonna Taylor.
This goes without saying, but this topic more than most on this blog deserves a 2022 reboot. Enjoy! - Fletch
(Originally published 2016)
When I created my Fletchifesto, my goal was to help people focus on positivity. Hopefully you will notice that everything included in the Fletchifesto graphic is meant to encourage you or just focus on the brighter side of things. That was the goal. Infuse positivity into the people I contact.
With this phrase, I decided to be a little more blunt: BE KIND. It's simple. I just want people to learn to be friendly and generous with one another.
In all truthfulness, I stole this from a quote on one of Kendra's t-shirts. It just says: "BE KIND" across the front. It's highly possible that it grabs my attention based solely on the position and location as it is displayed across my wife's chest, but I am motivated by this phrase every time she wears the shirt.
It's simple. It's repeatable. It makes a very good mantra.
By definition, kindness includes aspects of friendliness, generosity and being considerate to other people, which are all great qualities. But, I often find kindness can be difficult to integrate throughout your life. It's hard to be kind to a child throwing a temper tantrum. It's hard to be kind to your spouse when they deeply offend. Driving behind someone slow in traffic or standing behind the person who doesn't understand "10 items or less" will quickly extinguish kindness. Personally, I find the biggest challenge to be kind when others are not acting kind. However, I don't think that is the point with kindness.
I realized that I wanted to develop more kindness in my life, so I put myself to a test. For this year's 100 Day challenge, I completed a random act of kindness everyday. Being kind to family and friends is easy, so to stretch myself I tried to focus my efforts on complete strangers and society at large. Here is what I learned: the opportunity to be kind is in abundance. Once I got started, opportunities for kindness were EVERYWHERE. I just need to open my eyes and see the needs around me. It blew me away how many times I was avoiding kindness on my day to day existence on this planet. Also, I was amazed at how this developed a habit of kindness in me. It was almost as if my kindness muscles were out of shape.
How about you? How are you doing with kindness? Do you want to join me?
Quietly making noise,
Fletch