Is Kindness A Mistake

I went to pick up something from someone a few years ago and heard a female cursing a child. He couldn’t be more than eleven or twelve years old. I picked up what I came for, but I couldn’t leave. The mother in me wouldn't allow me to leave this child without encouraging him. My heart breaks for how she was treating him. The things she was telling this child shouldn’t be said to anyone. I thought she was cruel.

We adults owe every child in need something for the damage many of us have done to the world. The hell our world has been raging in for centuries is getting worse by the second. Children suffer worldwide due to the actions, choices, decisions, and intentions of adults.

One thing touched my heart, she demanded of him after tearing him down, “Nobody has ever been kind to you before?”

I nodded and walked away before my frustration exploded and I said something horrible to her that I might regret. I stayed a distance and watched as he walked away, his head down. I called him and we talked while I headed home. I give him books, pens, pencils, mangoes, and sweetsops from my tree.

The next day, he came back wanting more. Again, I gave what I had. For the next two weeks, this child forgot that my limited resources and I weren’t from a Well and visited me every day wanting something.

His actions brought back the question the lady had asked him. I went to see her to ask her about him. She explained, “I was sorry for him when someone was cursing him, so I helped him out. Every day for a month, he came and I gave all that I could until I had to put a stop to him. Someone taught him how to be a parasite.”

Her words sent pain into my heart. She said, “I made a kindness mistake. I think you did, too.”

I grabbed a deep breath as the pain increased in my heart, spreading all over my body.

How can kindness be a mistake?

What kind of world do we live in when kindness is a mistake?

When he returned, I wanted to talk to him and tell him that I couldn’t always help him and that he must never allow anyone to get tired of him. I wanted to tell him that kindness is a two-way street and that he must never take anyone’s kindness for granted.

I wasn’t home when he came. My husband told him he didn’t have what he wanted. He didn’t return, so I think he moved to another area.

Children must be taught kindness and see their parents in action, being kind to others. They must be taught the value of kindness and how it impacts lives. They must be taught that kindness is a two-way street, and you must take with one hand and give with the other to keep kindness flowing.

Kindness is essential in our world. One tiny act can save millions of lives.

He popped into my mind today, and I prayed for him. I never knew his name. If that’s how he was taught to live and doesn’t change, he won’t live or survive in his world for long.

Our world can do without unkindness, but we would cease to exist if kindness were to become a mistake.

Someone said, ‘There is not one bad habit in a child that cannot be traced to an adult.’

Who taught him to be like that?

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

Please, teach your children the value of kindness. Kindness should never be a mistake.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.