Reflections on the Importance of Always Being Kind

By Jim Holbrook

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is carrying a great burden” is a maxim attributed to the first-century Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo.

“Always be kind” is the life lesson attributed by Diane Musho Hamilton, Buddhist Sensei [1], to her former horse trainer when she asked him years later what was the most important thing he had learned after decades training show horses.

On the importance of always being kind, Sherwin Nuland, author of “How We Die,” told Krista Tippett that “pain – and response to pain – is a universal thing, it helps explain so many things about others, just as it explains so much about yourself. It teaches you forbearance. It teaches you a moderation in your responses to other people’s behavior. It teaches you a sort of understanding. It essentially tells you what everybody needs. You know what everybody needs? You want to put it in a single word?
Everybody needs to be understood.
And out of that comes every form of love.” [2]

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1) http://www.dianemushohamilton.com/Home.html

2) http://www.onbeing.org/program/biology-spirit/184