Hello, Steemians

Today I'll be sharing with you what kindness means to me. Stay with me because I'll try to keep it succinct.

I do ask myself a couple of times why it seems as if I'm a people–pleaser. After carrying out a self–introspection, I concluded that my love language is kindness even though this has been my undoing sometimes.

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WHAT IS KINDNESS?

Etymologically, ‘kindness’ is derived from the Old English word ‘kyndnes’. It comprises two words which are kind + ness (suffix). The word ‘kind’ in this context functions as an adjective that describes the act of being friendly, generous, considerate or compassionate to others. On the other hand, ‘ness’ is an adjective that denotes that it is a state or quality of being.

Kindness refers to the act of being conscious of the needs of others and helping them in solving these problems. Simply put, kindness entails love or charity. This is why every society, culture ethnicity and religions encourage love.

It rained cat and dog that day and I offered to take her back home with my umbrella before returning home. I was actually teasing her and decided to take a picture.

People mainly show kindness through giving alms, gifts, helping the sick and weary. While some acts of kindness are trivial like giving someone a lift in the rain, others are very significant. Examples include:

• Offering a scholarship to a less privileged child.
• Sponsoring a person's treatment for life-threatening diseases like cancer.
• Wearing a nose mask to curtail the spread of COVID–19.
• Not encouraging the spread of sickness or virus and so forth.

Interestingly, some kindness can be given for intrinsic rewards. This involves helping others for other ulterior motives such as obtaining a favour, promotion, appointment, excellent academic grades etc. But this should not be the case.

I've met people who have offered me their assistance in many ways. However, I view kindness differently. Kindness means courteousness to me. I understand that words and actions can be so powerful and so aim at using them carefully.

In a conversation with a friend yesterday, I told him that using the word ‘fat’ when describing a person can be offensive. I prefer the word ‘chubby’ as this does not in any way suggest any sort of body shaming.

Kindness involves both verbal and non-verbal actions. This is where etiquette comes in. Kindness can never be complete if the right words are omitted. One can be kind with words. This involves being sensitive to what you utter to avoid offending the other. It's important for the following relationship:

• Friend – friend
• Boss – employee
• Family – family members and the entire society.

One can also be kind with words by comforting others. I do speak with friends or strangers who are depressed or just feeling down and I'm always excited about the outcome because they always leave me feeling better than before.

Most times, it feels like some people don't deserve such gestures. But should this stop anyone from doing this good work?

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE ‘SO GOOD’?

The act of being kind is the obligation of all human beings. Kindness is vital for humanity. The keyword here is humanity.
Think kindness.
Live for humanity!

I am inviting:
@five5, @emmytexfrankline, @uwak and @ahbaz

Thank you for your time.❤️

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Thank you @steemidss for organising this contest.