Tag: kindness

Caring on the water

It might be as simple as a kind word at the right moment, or a helping hand to steady someone losing their balance, or even just a smile.

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Image of the day – 168

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

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This boat, seen here on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, is based at Saul Junction in Frampton on Severn. It might look like a tourist boat available for hire by the public, but it serves a different and entirely charitable purpose. Two similar (but not identical) special boats were built to provide opportunities for disabled or seriously ill people to experience a day on the canal for free. And for those that want to, they are also given the chance to explore the boat, see how it all works, hold the steering gear and so forth. The boats are designed for wheelchair access too. Check the See also link below for details and photos from the Willow Trust website.

I love to see examples of effort and resources being expended by enthusastic teams to greatly benefit those who need and deserve help. Every one of us can see the need for support of this sort, though not all are able or willing to provide it. But every single person in the world can do something positive to help others one way or another. It might be as simple as a kind word at the right moment, or a helping hand to steady someone losing their balance, or even just a smile. All it takes is an open eye, an attentive ear, and a willing mind.

If you are a wealthy person you might give thousands of pounds towards maintenance and fuel costs for these boats; if you have some spare time but no money, you might give time and energy to help with tidying and cleaning a boat between trips or helping in other practical ways. No matter what we do or do not possess, there’s always something we can offer.

It’s about contributing something, anything, in a world that’s not always fair or kind. And there are so many considerate, helpful organisations out there – everyone can find worthy opportunities in every town and most villages around the globe; even where there’s no local group or organisation, there will be many local opportunities to find and fill a need of some kind.

See also:

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Ingredients of kindness

Ingredients of kindness

It’s so important to wait for the right moment, to be sensitive to the feelings of other people.

Let’s analyse the idea of kindness – being kind to people.

Sharing a drink – Wikimedia image

First, it’s worth noting that the spring that feeds a flow of kindness is love. The reason a person acts in a kind way towards others is that there is love in that person’s heart. A loving attitude impels us towards kind thoughts, words and actions. Where there is a loving heart, kind things will pour out – always fresh, never running low. The stream of kindness flows because of the rising spring of love. But there also needs to be a measure of self control. Sometimes the instinct to be kind can result in thoughtless acts that embarrass or distress; kindness must be appropriate and considered.

Kindness is fundamentally a thing of great joy. If we are kind out of a sense of duty or if we have a grudging attitude, there will an absence of that wonderful enabler – a joyful heart. A kind act without joy may be useful and of great benefit, but it will never be a pretty thing. Even worse is kindness with a hidden motive. If I want something in return, my kind behaviour is no more than a calculated trade; there’s an expectation. This is kindness used as a wrapper to hide something else. The missing ingredient here is gentleness. Kindness must be a gentle thing, demanding nothing in return, offering benefit at no cost.

And kindness is always a thing of peace, without this essential element it may involve serious danger. Maybe you find it hard to imagine kindness without peace; but what happens when we want to be kind to an enemy? There are plenty of stories of wartime situations where a noble act of kindness has bridged the gulf between those on opposite sides of the battle. The counterfoil here is faithfulness. If we are to be kind in the middle of an argument, or much more a war, we will need to be faithful. But faithful to what? Faithful at the very least to strength of character and to courage and to the deep wisdom that even my enemy is a fellow human being, that there is a bond deeper even than existential danger.

Finally, kindness requires patience. It’s so important to wait for the right moment, to be sensitive to the feelings of other people. Nothing is more damaging to an attempt to be kind than the haste that overlooks the nuances of the situation. And what does patience need as a companion? Goodness. So how do we define that? It’s the thing that distinguishes what is right and what is not, a bit like conscience I suppose. Goodness is hard to define because it’s internal and may not be detectable from the outside. Goodness is about motivation, it’s allied to gentleness.

Let’s lay these concepts out, with kindness at the centre. We have:

Love, joy, peace, patience

Kindness

Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control

When Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, one of the things he told them was this.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control

Galatians 5:22

So be kind whenever and wherever you can. There are plenty of opportunities in the world. Be kind to friends and family, be kind to the people you work with, be kind to your neighbours, to strangers, and yes – be kind to those people who are not kind to you, those who behave like enemies. Kindness never does any harm, and sometimes it can be quite disarming.

#RescueBritain

We need leaders who will stand up for common sense and rescue us from the mess we find ourselves in.

I cannot remain silent as I continue to watch this nation destroy itself. Our government is leading us into poverty in so many ways. Poverty economically as we lurch towards a self-harm Brexit because it’s the will of slightly more than half those who voted in the referendum; poverty in terms of our moral standards (look no further than Home Office actions against so many British citizens who cannot prove their citizenship); poverty in terms of health care as our hospitals crumble and fail under unsustainable budget cuts and shortage of staff; the grinding poverty of  families, children and the elderly alike shorn of the state benefits they need and now dependent on food banks; the poverty of those working hard but still unable to rent or buy a decent home; and the poverty of unruly children in schools unable to provide an adequate education on shrinking budgets.

At the heart of all these failures is a government that isn’t governing properly. We need leaders who will stand up for common sense and rescue us from the mess we find ourselves in. I will vote for any candidate or any party that stands up and speaks the truth about the current situation and is brave enough to chart a route out of it. I will vote for kindness, truth, and generosity. I will not vote for thoughtlessness, falsehood or mean-mindedness.

Let’s rescue Britain and let’s do it now – before it’s too late. Use your vote and your voice to #RescueBritain. Vote in every local or national election, write to your MP, write to anyone with influence. Create a real stir, we need to hear everyone’s voice, the voice of the people. Whatever you write or say, tag it #RescueBritain – do it now!