Kindness Matters

Hello! I thought I would share a card I made for the previous "There's a Stamp for That" Facebook Challenge. We were to create something featuring mermaids and/or a thinking of you sentiment. As I considered what I would like to make, I could not get these wonderfully thought provoking words out of my mind...I kept revisiting the stamp and contemplating the profoundness of the message, and I knew I had to use it.

I don't know about you, but I was raised watching Mr. Rogers, and he was the epitome of love and alacrity. He had a wonderfully infectious spirit overflowing with kind benevolence. How I wish we had more people like him in our world today. Frankly, I am surprised that so many people from my generation, who also grew up watching him and were equally as blessed to have such an amazing role model, have chosen to embrace a completely different path...one of maliciousness and apathy. Apparently, I thought we were better than we've become. 

As Mr. Rogers stated, we are all incredibly important to the people we encounter, whether it is face-to-face or online. We have the ability to heal or hurt; encourage or destroy; embrace or cast aside; promote life or endorse death. It is true, "There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person," which is why we should be ever vigilant that the part of us we leave behind for another is one to be proud of and the kind of message we would want the people we love and hold dearest to us to hear and carry within them.

The reality is...we are not all going to agree with one another over various hot button topics/issues, but we don't have to react to these disagreements with venom and fury. Instead, we can choose to practice more kindness and self-control. In a world consumed with hostility, it seems to me that kindness...compassion...thoughtfulness are the only defenses or remedies against it. As Dr. King so brilliantly stated: 

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. 

With that being said, I am going to try my best to follow the paths of Dr. King and Mr. Rogers by trying my best to put more love, light, and positivity into this world we share with one another. I may be only one person, but I choose to leave something beautiful (or inappropriately funny) with every person I encounter on my life's journey.

Stamp used: You are Important by Ink Road Stamps