Is Kindness For Sale?

Listening to a male complaining about his unpaid acts of kindness.

“I took care of his brother,” he lamented. “I was there for him when he was sick, and everyone ignored him.”

“So, you have a kind heart. Good for you,” his friend complimented him.

Nodding in disappointment, he continued his ranting, “his brother died, and he came down from the US to bury him. I helped him with all of the funeral arrangements and went to the funeral too, and all he gave me was $20 US dollars.”

“You think he should have given you more?” His friend asks.

“Hell yes!” catapulted from his rage faster than bullets from a submachine gun in WWII.

“So how much was your kindness worth?”

“About $1000 US. I help bathe his brother. I cooked for him and cleaned up, too. I bought food for him and washed his clothes too. I was his nursemaid for many weeks before he died,” he recalls.

“So, your kindness was for sale. Did you let him or his brother know that?”

Shock held him for a moment, then he said in protest, “he should have given me more money. He knew all of what I did for his brother.”

“But he thought you were just being kind. He wasn’t aware that you were selling your kindness. If he did, maybe he would have paid you more,” his friend suggested.

“I deserve more!” he continued in protest.

His friend stared at him briefly, then asked, “So, how much would you put on all of the kindness I have given to you and your family over the years?” This question brought his heart back to the kindness he received that he didn’t pay for.

His eyes popped as he stared at his friend, reading the seriousness on his face.

“You were selling me your kindness?” His shock asked.

“You are selling yours to Jimmy and his brother, and I overdid mine many times, like you did with Jimmy and his brother,” he reminds him.

Silence played its tune until his friend added more, “If I could put a value on it, I would say more than a thousand times what you thought yours was to Jimmy. Never put a price on kindness, friend. Life demands balance, and what I have given you for years without payment is something you must give back to someone else, just as freely as you took it. That’s how life works. You take, you must give back without demanding to be paid.”

He fumed and twisted and turned his lips without saying a word

“What if I wanted to be repaid for my kindness to you. You would have to file for bankruptcy!” his friend adds.

He rolled his eyes, huffed and puffed in rage, and walked away.

Many people put a price on the kindness they give, but not on the numerous acts of generosity they continue to receive from others.

Our world can do without cruelty. Humanity will cease to exist without the kindness of others. — Annelise Lords

Do you sell your acts of kindness?

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