“Raised being Kind” by Samantha W

   Everyone believes that being kind is harder than not being kind, I want to disagree to agree. Being kind is one’s own personal choice and YOU decide whether to be kind to others. People view people, meaning your first impression of a person is the most important because not only will you view that certain person the same way all the time but it will reflect their behaviors towards certain outcomes. Ella Wheeler Wilcox once said, “The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind” and the ability to make yourself happy mentally is all anyone can ever wish for. There was an incident where my step mom said something rude to me and there were a couple of solutions I could of gone about the situation, such as saying something unnecessary back, staying mad, continuously be rude to her, and I decided to be kind. I was always taught to be generous or kill people with kindness because it doesn't hurt people to be nice. All my life I was raised to look out for people's feelings, constantly think before I speak, being aware of how things may seem. All these qualities were molded in my head to become a kindhearted person. This does not come naturally, to this day I have to nonstop remind myself to watch what I say. Being kind might not come easily but I always say, “ It doesn't hurt to try and be kind because at the end of the day all people remember is the bad actions people take. So if all you do is come off courteous then there shouldn't be any negative comments others will remember.” You also never know if a person is having a bad day, is emotionally, physically, or mentally depressed, suicidal, or doesn’t take disrespectful comments well. You can’t ever assume anything about a person and their negative actions because you can’t know what they’ve gone through, and being thoughtful can remind others that they, too, need to treat others how they want to be treated. Many people view being kind as a weakness and they also believe that it is the wrong tactic to go about leading others. I believe that it’s more of a strength and challenge to be able to hold want you really want to say in and speak enthusiastic towards others. Everyone wants to be happy and if you try and be caring you can see that you’re happier. Holding grudges can demolish your mood, tone towards others, and overall happiness for that day but that is just the way you handle what comes at you. When you hold in all the anger you end up punishing someone else such as taking your rage out on them, causing fights you don’t intentionally mean to start, or even making rash decisions that you haven’t thought out clearly with a focused mindset. Being sweet towards others can result in bringing people out of their gloomy mood and making a change in their life even if it’s not noticeable yet. In our society today people are making it seem like it’s acceptable to be mean to others, and it’s not. Society is making it come across like toughness shows who has the most power, and thinking that being generous is agreeing that rudeness can be unnoticed. Allowing yourself to push aside the harsh comments and keeping a friendliness mood is defined as rising above. Being kind to people cannot harm you, such being rude does not solve anything.