PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Today I’m grateful for the novelist Henry James….

perhaps because when it comes to this particular view

our thinking is aligned….

He said:

Three things in human life are important.

The first is to be kind.

The second is to be kind.

And the third …is to be kind.

Today I’m grateful that we are all born with the ability to be kind.

That we have it within our power to make everyone’s day complete…

by being kind, compassionate and considerate 

to everyone 

and everything we meet.

When I was young I loved opening a new box of dominoes from the store

and setting them up in different patterns all across the floor.

After setting up every domino in the box…every domino…one and all…

I’d topple the first one into the second…sit back…and watch all the dominoes fall. 

The older I got the more intricate and spiraling designs I would erect…

just for the opportunity to feel the domino effect.

The domino effect, as everybody knows,

is when one event triggers similar related events…like falling dominoes.

The funny thing about the domino effect…something I wish more of us knew…

is that it doesn’t just work with dominoes…it works with people too.

If one person does something kind for another person…

even someone they don’t know…

that simple act of kindness acts like a domino.

Once that person feels the effects of that kindness…before that feeling is gone…

the domino effect compels them to pass that feeling on.

And on and on one act of kindness topples into another…kindnesses large and small

and one happily never knows with that one act of kindness…how far the dominoes will fall.

In theory that one simple act of kindness…from the moment of its origin…it’s birth…

could trigger a chain reaction of kindness that travels to all corners of the Earth.

When you think about it….imagine what this chain reaction of kindness could do

and while your at it imagine if today…that first domino…is you.

When I was a teacher I knew…from their parents my students were on loan

and I did my best to treat them as if they were children of my own.

At the beginning of every day…this mantra I repeated:

I will do my best to treat my students the way I’d like my children treated.

It was as a wonderful way to start each day…echoing my Golden Rule Of Teaching

for I knew, in my heart, my mind and soul… its effects could be far-reaching.

It’s my own interpretation, my own version of The Golden Rule…

the one we all learned while growing up…in our churches and our schools.

And now, being long-retired, with my teaching career complete…

I try to use The Golden Rule of Teaching with everyone I meet.

So when I see or hear of people being hateful, inhumane and cruel…

I wonder if they no longer believe, have forgotten…or are ignoring The Golden Rule. 

When I see people belittled, demeaned, debased, degraded and defiled…

I want to ask, would you be treating this person that way…

if this person was your child?

Looking at the state of the world…I don’t think I’m overreaching

to think it would be good for everyone…every day to repeat The Golden Rule of Teaching.

To begin each day with an open heart…and with this simple phrase repeated:

Today I will treat everyone I see the way I’d like my children treated.

It may seem too simple, too childish, too innocent…

but in a world that is daily falling apart…

perhaps the Golden Rule of Teaching is the perfect place to start.

Today I’m grateful for kindness…

for no matter our nationality…

be we American, French, Arabian, or Greek…

Kindness is a universal language

everyone can speak.

May we be blessed to live in a world of kindness…

for kindness is the epitome of humanity…

where every person…every day

tries to be a little kinder then they think they need to be.

May we be blessed to stand up strong for what we believe in…

while at the same time finding it in our hearts to forgive…

and do the best we can at finding a way

to be kind to everything that lives.

Today I’m grateful wherever I am

under the moon, 

the stars, 

the sun

to have been created with the ability

to me kind to everything….

and everyone.

Every day we get a little closer to dying…that’s just reality…

although we don’t know exactly when our last day on Earth will be.

So each day as we move a little closer to the end…

we should try and get a little closer to our family and friends…

Since once a day is over…never to repeat

each day we should try to be a little kinder to everyone we meet.

A little kinder to all the people who look or act differently… 

A little kinder to the animals…to the air, the land…the sea.

And each day as we try to be a little kinder to the world…

wouldn’t it be swell…

If we could try to be a little kinder to ourselves as well.

For there are no more beautiful words that can e’er be said…

when it’s our time to live no more…

than: 

everyday we tried to be a little kinder 

than we were the day before.