Wise Words on Kindness

"Imitating Deity"
What is it to practice benevolence? It is to imitate the Deity.
Publius

“Give More”
Always give people a little more love and kindness than they deserve
Unknown

"Kindle Fires"
If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.
Lucy Larcom

"No Ulterior Motives"
The true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.
Ann Landers

"Be Nice"
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Did You Hear?"
Believe nothing against another but upon good Authority; Nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to others to conceal it.
William Penn

"Donations Accepted"
We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve…Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling…. At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and He is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life…Each of us will have to give a personal account to God. Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.
Rick Warren

"The Approach"
The greatest favors may be done so awkwardly and bunglingly as to offend; and disagreeable things may be done so agreeably as almost to oblige.
Lord Chesterfield

"The Circle of Light at Our Feet"
A week ago we woke up to over a foot of silent, heavenly, childhood-resurrecting snow. I went out with a shovel and found that my neighbor George had unbarricaded me already. So I plucked my way to old Mrs. Carter’s house and did her car and driveway. Meanwhile, Kathy B. was hacking a tunnel from Mrs. Gliba’s steps to the road, and I saw Steven D. armed and looking for someone to rescue.
Economically speaking, it was a zero-sum game: Everybody’s snow got shoveled by someone else, and it was no more or no less efficient than if they had shoveled it themselves. But life is more than the removal of precipitation, and the crisscrossing lines of neighbors “bearing one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) augmented the value of the exercise.

It made me think that if God had wanted to create a more “efficient” world with more efficient people, He would have eliminated such time-wasters as sleep (one-third of the day), eating (three times a day), hygiene, sex, music, friendship, and childhood. Then we could have gotten a lot done.

The next question is, of course, what we are so bent on getting done? I thought about my own life. What is the point of everything I do? Am I forever doing the thing I’m doing so that later on I can get to the thing I really want to be doing? Dorothy Parker said, “I hate writing. I love having written.” Is that how it is for me, too?

What is the definition of an “interruption”? According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, “Interrupt: To stop or hinder by breaking in.” The implication is that the activity being “hindered” is more important than the demand that is interrupting it. We may have some things reversed. Our preacher last Sunday said his wife phoned him while he was preparing his sermon (on love), and rather than listen to her talk about her day, he orchestrated the conversation to find the nearest exit.

It’s hard to say what I would have got done if the storm hadn’t come. No one is allowed to know the might-have-beens. All that we have is the circle of light at our feet.
Andree Seu

"Love Your Enemies"
Show not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy.
George Washington

"Finding A More Excellent Way"
Joseph found his betrothed to be with child—and not by him. "Being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, [he] resolved to divorce her quietly" rather than throw the book at her (Matthew 1:19). Small footnote in Scripture; big leap in this reader's understanding. Here was a thinker, a grappler, who wrestled within the parameters of righteousness and found one way more excellent than another.
Andree Seu

"To Him Shall More Be Given"
Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.
C.S. Lewis

"Neither Abuser Nor Abused"
Be neither a hammer nor a nail.
Saying

"Instead of Gossiping"
Let’s think of things to say to one another that will make the person we are talking to love the person we are talking about.
Andree Seu

"How To Win Friends And Influence People"
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
1. Don't criticize, condemn, or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You
1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is, to him or her, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in the terms of the other person's interest.
6. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.

Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
1. Avoid arguments.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never tell someone that he or she is wrong.
3. If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes.
6. Let the other person do the talking.
7. Let the other person feel the idea is his/hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Sympathize with the other person.
10. Appeal to noble motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge; don't talk negatively when a person is absent; talk only about the positive.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Talk about your own mistakes first.
3. Call attention to other people's mistakes indirectly.
4. Ask questions instead of directly giving orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise every improvement.
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Encourage them by making their faults seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.
Dale Carnegie

"Imitating Strength"
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
Eric Hoffer

"Why Those Dainty Morsels Are So Sweet"
People use information as leverage and even mild self-promotion all the time. Sharing news about friends hints that you're popular enough to be privy; office tidbits suggest you're plugged-in. Swapping family news makes you central to these important ties.

Negative information is particularly potent. In sharing it, you form a mini-alignment with your confidant against the person you're dogging or whose confidence you're betraying. Good news makes groups, bad news makes factions.
Carolyn Hax

“Assume The Best”
Make generous assumptions about others.
Brene Brown