Today’s quotation:
You can’t travel the back roads long without discovering many gentle people doing good for others without expecting gain or recognition. The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. Some people out there spend their whole lives selflessly. -Charles Kuralt
On the Road with Charles Kuralt
Today’s Meditation:
The second sentence here is one of my favorite quotations of all time. It says something very true and profound- that many people are doing many kinds of things all the time, but they most certainly aren’t making headlines. Usually, those headlines are full of the names of criminals, politicians, athletes, and entertainers, people whom the vast majority of us never will meet or have anything to do with at all. That sentence gives me hope, for I know that kindness isn’t dead, and kind people haven’t disappeared.
Most of us make our lives out of the public eye, even though there are constantly more and more forces that are trying to make us dissatisfied with this state of affairs. After all, anyone can become a megastar these days, right? If you can’t do it on American Idol, then perhaps you can succeed on The Voice or any other show that thrusts people into the limelight to allow others to judge them. But I like life out of the spotlights, for I feel peaceful and relaxed here. I want to be part of the everyday kindness of the back roads; even if I don’t live on the back roads- I can still show that kindness to others.
What does it mean to be truly selfless? What does it mean to be a giving, loving person? What does it mean to show kindness to all the people you can? I think that if we can set our minds on being kind, we can truly change the worlds of many people: people who may find a thread of hope in our kindness, people who may see a ray of light in it on a day that was perhaps quite dark, to begin with.
There is much, much kindness in the world. Just because we don’t see it so regularly on the news, the Internet, or our phones doesn’t mean it’s not there–it’s being neglected by those whose job is to put things in the public eye. I want to keep reminding myself that there are plenty of kind people out there, and I really want to be just like them as much as possible.
Questions to consider:
Why do so many kindnesses remain out of the public eye?
How can you show “an everyday kindness of the back road” tomorrow? To whom?
What happens to us when we look at the world in narrow ways? How might it feel to do so?
For further thought:
When you look at the world in a narrow way, how narrow it seems! When you look at it in a mean way, how mean it is! When you look at it selfishly, how selfish it is! But when you look at it in a broad, generous, friendly spirit, what wonderful people you find in it! – Horace Rutledge
If you missed our last Daily Meditation, it is here.
