All Souls Have Wounds
I have never met a person who didn’t have wounds on their soul.
True, some souls have a few faded scars while others are crisscrossed with layers of gangrenous pain.
But all souls have wounds.
Kindness Heals
Forgive my language, but the saying “Time heals all wounds” is bullshit.
It is no more true than “Time cures all cancer.”
It is fortune cookie wisdom.
… and bad advice.
No, time doesn’t heal wounds.
Kindness does.
And just like cruelty, kindness is bidirectional.
Acts of kindness heal the receiver AND the giver.
Such is the human condition.
And while we have little control over the kindness OF others, we have complete control over kindness TO others.
…But it is Asymmetrical
I have bad news…
It only takes a little cruelty to cause someone (and yourself) a lifetime of pain.
When you were 13 years old, you tossed a hurtful comment at a classmate.
You forgot it moments later, but they still carry with them the insecurities it caused.
Kindness heals the wounds of cruelty, but it is asymmetrical.
To put it simply: It takes a LOT of kindness to heal a LITTLE cruelty.
Such is the human condition.
I don’t know the exact mathematical equation for kindness and cruelty, but it seems to take hundreds of acts of kindness to undue a single act of cruelty.
Another way to think about it: Kindness is a balm that has to be reapplied every day.
A fellow traveler,
Ryan
p.s. Not convinced? Research suggests that being kind to others might be more effective at reducing anxiety and depression than therapy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/17439760.2022.2154695?needAccess=true
