Be Kind

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

I saw these words today in Kahwa Coffee Roasters, a coffee shop near the house where we're staying this week in Bradenton, Florida.  I found this coffee shop when we were in Bradenton with the boys for spring training four years ago.  I found it, again, on this trip.

What has struck me about Kahwa Coffee Roasters is how nice everyone here is, to each other and to the customers.  It's a small place in a strip mall, almost nondescript.  Sitting here at the same table after my run each morning, I've had a bird's eye view of the baristas interacting with customers at the drive through window and in the shop.  Everyone at Kahwa is so damn friend.  So, well . . . kind.  

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

As I tell the boys, often, it's so easy to smile at an acquaintance or even a stranger.  It's so easy to compliment a friend or to make eye contact and ask how they're doing.  It's also easy to give someone a quick pat on the shoulder, a fist bump, a hug.  

Those are all acts of kindness.  They don't cost anything and, really, they don't take much effort.   The return is so much greater than the act itself.   

To try to make someone else smile or to try to make someone else happy, even if just for a moment, is what we all should strive to do every day, isn't it?  

To connect with someone - particularly a stranger - is a beautiful thing.  To see the unexpected smile on someone's face when you give them a kind word or a smile, that's the essence of life, I think.  It's what makes us human. 

That's what I am thinking about this morning. 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."  

That's what I want to do - be kind.  To strangers, to friends, to acquaintances, to my family.  Once a day, I want to have a small, positive impact on someone's life.  I want to connect with one person a day, to make that person feel loved and to understand that he or she matters, in that moment, to me. 

In a world where I can be anything, I want to be kind.