Before You Know What Kindness Really Is

 My path has crossed with Naomi Shihab Nye's several times back in New Braunfels, Texas, when this great poet was still Naomi Shihab. I was privileged to have read poems with Naomi and several other poets at the Shiner Catholic Picnic/ Poetry Reading at Gaslight Theatre.  "Words Under the Words" remains one of my favorite book of poetry.  Naomi is as true and genuine a person as her words.  Her poem on kindness is timeless, especially today with the immigration issues we are facing.  Simple kindness is indeed often expressed more freely by those who have the least. I see that at our Kuykendall Scholarship Bake Sales where we raise money for bright African-American seniors to receive scholarships to "jump start" their higher education.  Some folks who can least afford it are always the ones who come to the bake sale and buy the most.  Our committee's guiding principle is  that we send students to college by selling everything from cakes to collard greens.  And so far, it's been working for eleven years!

Ohmygoodness, I await the delivery of the weekly iJourney read with delightful anticipation! *giggle  With each delivery I am encouraged to think beyond myself and I am sweetly reminded of how beauty-full life is and can be with learning and living.  This weeks iJourney read, I am reminded of the engagement received at the Wednesday gatherings, the peaceful quiet of the Mehta family home and sharing of thoughts and feelings and ideas.

I felt those same blessings here the last couple visits to this iJourney post reading the thoughts and feelings of those that have shared here... I found the poem and poet to be as Pavi stated, "gentle and sharp at the same time" and reading through Katherine's and Manisha's experiences and then Somik's wisdom and connection to "The Mahabharata", I am beautifully nudged to open my heart further and my mind more to Ms. Nye's message.

Kindness, indeed awareness, can come with the experiences of a heavy load or the weight of responsibility.  These experiences can give way to understanding.  When the understanding is shared with another in empathy it becomes kindness.  This is how it is for me, too,  though additionally I would share that at best it is also in practicing kindness, or simple goodness for this matter, that the behavior will become habit and a part of my very person and further a part of my identity and my way of be-ing or the way that I am; I am kind.

I have deep and incredible gratitude for the many kindnesses shared with me, my family and those I love.  Though I am sure that there are many I have forgotten, there are so very many acts of kindness I summon to my thoughts and whilst doing so I give thanks and a prayer for these kindness givers.  Those that share a kindness with me inspire me to reciprocate within my world, and I do.  Kindness feels good.

So my thoughts on kindness are that in practicing kindness I become kind,  in recieving kindness I am energized to share kindness, and the gift of kindness and being kind increase my quotient of gratitude in living and loving. 

It's all good-ness!  xo

 Nye is a magician-poet. She turns words into wisdom. Gentle and sharp at the same time.

The first time I stumbled across this poem it prompted me to scribble this one:

Before you know gratitude really is
You must accumulate things, yes
Feel your possessions pile up in a moment
Like feather mattresses for a princess.
Walking, what you clutch in your hands
What you heave onto your back must
Grow unbearably heavy
Turning your footsteps towards

Greetings! This is a lovely poem, thank you for sharing it. I believe we feel kindness in its happening when our gentle nurturing presence comes alive in offering/receiving love during the moments of humility and oneness with the world. It reminds me of Parker Palmer's intuitive sense of kindness that resonates with my own sense that I am struggling to share here: "Š as winters turn into spring, I find it not only hard to cope with mud but also hard to credit the small harbingers of larger life to come, hard to hope until the outcome is secure. Spring teaches me to look more carefully for the green stems of possibility; for the intuitive hunch that may turn into a larger insight, for the glance or touch that may thaw a frozen relationship, for the stranger's act of kindness that makes the world seem hospitable again." (Source: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation)

This passage was about attention for me: that to know kindness requires tuning into the constancy of the gifts that sustain us.  The challenge with constancy is that its so easy to take that flow for granted and lose gratitude for the kindness which continually charges us up.  Hence to know kindness, the author says we must go to the extreme end where its flow is nearly choked off such that even the smallest trickle gives rise to an abundant gratitude which ultimately transforms how we live.  There is truth in this, but also think there's a golden middle path that's found in fully accepting the challenges life throws at us.  Many examples of this: if somehow you don't get a meal or two, be with your hunger and watch how it changes all your lenses; if a car or train isn't available, let your muscles strain on the long journey home by foot or bicycle; if you feel ignored, embrace your fundamental aloneness past the point of discomfort; and through all of these things you will taste food, and sip time, and respect space, and honor love like never before.

On the interplay of kindness and sorrow, the story that has inspired me the most comes from India's ancient epic, "The Mahabharata." A powerful emperor decided to give away his wealth to his citizens in the largest giving ceremonies of those times. In his court, everyone was astonished at how much he gave away, leading some to declare that this was the greatest giving that mankind had witnessed.

"Pooh!" came a voice. As everyone turned to look, it was that of a squirrel, who spoke cynically, "Hah! This is not the greatest giving at all." The squirrel had a body that was half golden and half brown. The angry courtiers asked the squirrel to explain himself.

The squirrel then told his story. "There lived a teacher in a village, who had been unable to get alms for many days. One day, he finally managed to get a little rice and rushed home delighted. He told his wife to make a meal that they would enjoy with their children, after having starved for many days. Just when they were about to begin their meal, there was a knock on the door, and a hungry traveler asked for a meal. Immediately, this teacher welcomed the traveler, and gave the family's entire meal which the traveler hungrily consumed, leaving nothing for his hosts. That night, the entire family perished of hunger. I was in their kitchen, and one morsel of rice that lay on the floor touched my body, immediately burning it to a golden color. Since then, I have been searching for another great giving so that the other half of my body may also turn to gold, but I have been unsuccessful in finding such a giving." 

Whenever I feel generosity is wanting in me, that teacher greatly inspires me to take one more step.

ddailygood

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to this kind article and the many other words on kindness from charity focus and daily good. I have a long file about kindness and I believe it is made me a bit kinder since I began keeping the file motivated by charity focus. This Talmud says: "Kindness is the highest form of wisdom." To paraphrase Gandhi, there is no way to kindness, kindness is the way. I hope the following isn’t too long but I had so many great quotes on kindness that I had trouble selecting. Most of  these quotes came from charity focus  and daily good. For all those involved with charity focus in daily good, you my deep gratitude.

Warm and kind regards,

Conrad P Pritscher

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.

- Author Unknown

This was an interesting article... I felt the journey of Naomi Shihab Nye.

And, I had an insight into her understandings, perspective and interpretations of ‘a’ kindness.