Be kinder than necessary….

Have you read the book Wonder by R J Palacio?

There is a wonderful line quoted by the character Mr Tushman that reads:

“Be kinder than is necessary. Because it's not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.

I will often spend time reflecting on things I’ve done over the week and note where I’ve been kind, kinder than necessary or ‘could have done better’.

As an example, yesterday whilst out and about I was in a position to help someone who asked for my assistance and spent some extra time with them in order to help a little bit more. Likewise early this morning, on a walk I passed a supermarket shopping basket that had been discarded on the street probably late last night. I did think twice but figured it would only be a few minutes detour for me to pass by the supermarket and return the basket to them, which I did.

I was rewarded. Not by the supermarket as I didn’t even tell them I’d found the basket I simply dropped it off and was on my way, but this afternoon I was in a store and having trouble ordering something as the company’s systems were playing up and the sales assistant was sympathetic and simply gave me the item free of charge. We’re not talking about a sofa, it was a very very small purchase, however the point is this person was ‘kinder than necessary’ and I appreciated it very much.

When was the last time you were kind and now give thought to when you were perhaps ‘even kinder than necessary'. Likewise can you remember someone being kind than necessary towards you? How did it make you feel?