The 13th of November is annually observed as World Kindness Day around the globe. It was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of kindness NGOs from various nations. The idea for this day originated from a conference held in Tokyo in 1997, where like-minded organizations came together to promote kindness worldwide.
The day aims to highlight good deeds in the community, focusing on the positive power and common thread of kindness that binds us all. In fact, kindness is one of the essential traits of human beings, which makes us unique among all other living creatures on earth. Other species may or may not possess this trait in a substantial capacity or in a conscious way, as humans do.
As humans, we often display kindness at both individual and collective levels. Starting from our families, relatives, peer groups, and neighbours to our institutional colleagues, business enterprises, and at national and international forums, we often display some element of kindness or at least pretend to be kind.
The reason is that the essence of kindness is multidimensional and kaleidoscopic. When parents show a glimpse of kindness toward their children, they learn and display it among their siblings and friends. As a result, both families and friend circles breed love and affection among themselves, which cements their mutual bond of respect and cooperation in the long run.
Likewise, kindness among colleagues from various socio-economic and psychological backgrounds at different workplaces, offices, institutions, and platforms, as well as down the hierarchical ranks, creates a healthy and productive working environment. This makes even tedious work enjoyable, which otherwise seems hard to do sometimes. Not only this, but subordinates also take assigned duties personally and treat fellow colleagues as members of a large extended family. This produces an atmosphere of “we-feeling” and integrates the entire institution or system into one unit, which later on proves beneficial during times of adversity or emergency.
When we talk of kindness at national and international levels, we create fertile ground for new friendships, new assignments, greater opportunities, deeper engagements, and new vistas of prosperity and development for our own people, who choose us to lead, especially during times of fair competition and globalization. This also gives us recognition and enables us to play a larger role as a national and international stakeholder.
Imagine a doctor being unkind toward patients, a bureaucrat being unkind toward his subordinates, a head of a family being unkind toward his dependents, or even an office bearer of the legislative, executive, or judicial system being unkind in playing his role toward subordinate staff. All this would produce a topsy-turvy state of affairs with negative repercussions of disastrous magnitude.
Not being kind, thus, has its own detrimental and devastating consequences in one form or another. In its absence, we can’t expect stable families and institutions. Conflicts and chaos would become the rule of the day. Chances may arise where we won’t be able to maintain our recognition, breeding more foes than friends on our borders and beyond. Our exports will decline, so will our balance of payments. Additionally, we will witness an abrupt rise in poverty, corruption, diseases, and disasters of hatred, as well as a culture of exploitation, nepotism, communalism, intolerance, and insecurity.
To develop consensus and an ecosystem of love, tolerance, brotherhood, mutual respect, and cooperation, we must make kindness an essential part of our daily routine and follow the dictum of “live and let live” in every walk of our lives. Only then can we make our planet a beautiful and worthwhile place to live, both for ourselves and for other coexisting life.
In any circumstance, we must not forget that every act of kindness counts, regardless of its ordinary magnitude or the abstract circumference of influence. Let’s pledge to be kind today and henceforth for the sake of the associated responsibility of being human. The more we adopt kindness, the more we will contribute to the cause of humanity.
The writer teaches Geography at Government Degree College, Anantnag
By Dr Rafi Ramzan Dar
ra***********@***il.com