Be Kind
Ken Wapnick taught this very powerful analogy for kindness: Imagine you are walking out of a building. And just outside, you see a little child crying, all alone, tears streaming down its face. Would you step around the child and continue on your way, or would you seek out the parents of this baby?
Then Ken would offer this truism: inside of everyone is that frightened little child crying out for love. No matter how deftly they’ve covered up the pain, no matter what mask they’re wearing, no matter what they do – still is this true.
Ken shared this line from the philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE): “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
We all know the “hard battle” we fight – as well as those close to us – but rarely do we see and understand that battle in everyone else. We are all striving to get our needs met in the world while attempting to avoid pain as much as possible. The forms that battle takes are different for each of us, but the underlying content, or meaning, is the same.
Our choice – and everyone else’s choice – for the ego mind is the cause of all pain, the source of every battle. When we can recognize that, then we will see the frightened child in everyone, their pleading cries for love. And we can respond with the healing, uniting energy of love.
Be kind.
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