A Spoonful of Sugar
So, we're just coming out of National Kindness Week in Canada. The same week that the federal government called a state of emergency to deal with the ongoing lack of kindness situation in Ottawa and elsewhere across our beleaguered country. Oh, the irony.
Who'd a thunk Canada even needed to mandate kindness? What's happened to us? Where did our reputation for nice and polite and mild-mannered go? I know we are a nation made up of all sorts but up till recent years, we could usually be relied upon to play nice with each other (and before you yell at me about all the ways in which we are an imperfect citizenry, know that I do know this but that's not what this post is about).
If you read my blog last week, you'll know that I am in a dark place, emotionally and spiritually. But you know what? Despite feeling like the whole world has turned upside down, despite having lost my creative spark, despite having my faith in humanity sorely tested, I still manage to be a kind person. I can rise above my personal crises and still treat other human beings with respect and care. Not looking for sainthood here; just pointing out that it can be done.
Never before have Mary Poppins' words been so apt:
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down, the medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful wayI'm talking metaphorically, of course. Kindness is the sugar sprinkled on distasteful rancour.
These days even the tiniest act of kindness can infiltrate my heart with a gratitude bomb. I'm like a starving Oliver Twist - "Please, may I have some more?"
They say that what goes around. comes around. Or, what you put out, you get back. I do believe this; it's something I've experienced enough in life to know it to be true. It feels a little drop-in-the-
bucket these days, though. However, I remind myself of the ripple effect, the butterfly effect and I hold faith that my seemingly tiny and insignificant actions can have a big impact.