Musings on What Matters

Tuesday night at Owen's baseball game. Two on, two out with one of our best hitters at bat and Owen on deck. Floating over the cheers of the spectators, the instructions of the coaches, I hear one of our players say, "Hey guys, what happens if Owen gets up with bases loaded?".

This boy is young. He may not have meant his words to sound, as they did, mocking or cruel. Owen is not one of the best hitters on the team, and everyone realizes that. Luckily I don't think Owen heard the comment, preoccupied as he was taking practice swings. If he did, he shrugged it off; he's a pretty tough kid. But my heart twisted as I looked across at the player's laughing face.

The Dali Lama said, "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness".  Proverbs 3.3 reads "Do not let kindness and truth leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart" and Ephesians 4.32 commands "Be kind to one another". "Be kind, for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it beautifies it", wrote Mohammad. Mother Theresa had a few wise words to say about kindness too.

Being kind is my personal creed, and I'm obviously not the first (or kindest) to feel this way. It really encompasses all the good stuff  - love, respect, faith, gratitude. I hope that at the end of my life, people will remember me as kind.

Up until the snows of winter faded and cracked it, I had a magnet (a sweet gift from my friend Le Anne) on my car that read "Kindness Matters". I put it on Owen's door, and we often repeated it while loading up, and talked about how to be kind as we drove about town. Kindness - to everyone, to everything - is the biggest lesson I try to teach Owen.

Practicing kindness doesn't take money, or special talent, or hours of time. You don't have to agree with someone to be kind; you don't even have to like someone to be kind. Being kind can build a bridge between all races and religions.

For Owen, I make kindness simple: it's helping a classmate, or feeding a stray cat. It's listening to your grandparent tell a story - even if you've heard it already. Kindness is donating food or clothing to those who need it, writing thank you notes, and allowing Avery to sit next to the window on the bus (we are still working on that one). Kindness is making the choice not to say mean things about others; and being nice to the neighborhood "bully", because maybe he just needs some extra love. Kindness is trying to put a smile on someone's face.

Oh, that baseball game? Owen did get up with the bases loaded. He hit a single and drove in two runs. And his teammates were kind.