Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Act of Kindness

I've been reading...some random reading of blogs I follow and such, but also about a Peace Summit that the Dalai Lama did in September of 2009 in Vancouver themed, "Educating the Heart" that focused on mostly good news and good works.

The Dalai Lama emphasized again and again the need for women to have greater roles in leadership in all fields because, he said, they are "biologically" more nurturing and have a greater sensitivity to suffering. He feels that our educational system is the domain in which ethics and a connection to the totality of life needs to be taught now that there is a worldwide diminishment of the role of churches and the cohesion of families, arenas which once provided more spiritual and ethical sustenance. Following up on a challenge he made in 2006, he implored the educators and scientists attending the conference to introduce emotional and social intelligence in schools and for the media to start concentrating more on "good news," stories that uplift our spirits instead of scaring us to death.

I make a conscious effort to live in that world of empathy and kindness. Why do I not see this attitude more often in my city? Don't get me wrong, Austin is a friendly city and I see kind acts often and have experienced several personally. But I also see a lack of cohesiveness and have experienced a lot of fear and insecurity of people when it comes to being good to other people and forming good relationships.

Why do we think it serves us as humans to not treat each and every person as amazing entities? Every single "stranger" has purpose in this world, someday they may even have direct purpose to you. I think if we all take the time each day to thank one person (or more!) for their act of kindness or to create our own act of kindness that we will better served.

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