The Unexpected Kindness

October 22, 2018 Decker Culture, Current Events, Home 2 comments

Remember when the memory of experiencing unexpected kindness, decency, compassion or empathy comes about in your mind, providing you with a feeling of love and gratitude?

It may have been just yesterday, or sadly, years and years ago. Whenever it was, it touched your heart and soul in such a way that you still remember it to this day.

And most often, that decency, kindness compassion or empathy remembered was given freely by another, expecting NOTHING in return.

The kind words from someone given to us unexpectedly, about anything…whether it be how well you might look, how wonderful your work has been, how much you are appreciated for just being you – these words are never forgotten.

As technology races to turn us all into slaves of the state of corporatism, where our faces are scanned, our emails, texts – our errands that need to get done, all tracked and recorded – the poisons of the technology we can’t seem to turn away from, are turning us into zombies, having us foaming at the mouth of the latest ‘atrocity’ the corporate psychopath’s want us to indulge in.

Goodness, kindness and decency have been drummed out of us, so much so that we are somewhat taken aback when we’re on the receiving end of unexpected kindness.

And yet, when we receive it…we remember, usually for the rest of our lives.

Some 40 years ago I was a teacher. I taught 5th and 6th grades in the core subjects. I loved teaching. The unexpected joys it gave almost each day – from the struggling student who unexpectedly wakes up one day and “gets it”, to the joy witnessed on the face of a student who previously was excluded from recess games of ‘touch football’, and when asked to join in, the look of pure happiness on her face made one’s day, week, month and year.

Then one day, 20 years later, as I was working for a large corporation, standing outside the slave factory having a smoke on a brisk Autumn afternoon – a somewhat recognizable young man of about 25 years approached me. He told me that I probably didn’t recognize him but he recognized me, and just wanted to thank me for making his year spent in 6th grade in my class the most enjoyable experience he’s ever had at school. It wasn’t my efforts that I was proud of…the joy felt was from his kindness was what made the day.

As we seem to be headed down a path toward digital suicide, I find it impossible to believe that when all is said and done, we will be remembering a text, an email, how cool it was to be checked out at the grocery store by simply staring at a camera or of the waste of time spent reading and angrily reacting to a Twitter dump from some ‘knowing’ mind or other social media nonsense.

More than likely, as we depart this circus, we will be remembering the unexpected kindness received from the tender soul who read to us when we were a child; from the self-less parent who gave all of themselves to provide us with opportunities they never had; from the stranger on the street who threw a bouquet of kindness our way without an idea of a return on their ‘investment’ – these will be what we think of as we exit the stage.

The demons and psychopath’s of the era do what their lineage have done in ages past – stripping us of our humanity; convincing us by whatever means that we should hate whomever they tell us to hate.

We continue to listen to these psychopath’s, we continue to vote them into positions where they promise nirvana and deliver Gehenna. And we forget what each of us values most, that being: truth, love, kindness, compassion and empathy.

We don’t have to allow the insanity to continue. We can choose a different path than the one of technological suicide that is offered up to us.

All that we must recognize is that we don’t have to participate in their depravity, we don’t have to recognize their f**kery, we don’t have to buy into their tidings of what they deem is peace and joy…and in so doing, we might just save humanity.

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The Soprano’s sings their part, then the Alto’s, Tenor’s and Basses – and by giving of themselves the gifts they were born with – we each hear a melody of humanity’s harmony that we too often forget is what we each are called to impart.

The simple, the beautiful – the love and kindness, decency and compassion that geniuses before us tried to impart – this is what is in each of us…if we might stop and believe in the genius we each have…

“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius. True genius without heart is a thing of nought – for not great understanding alone, not intelligence alone, nor both together, make genius.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Tonight’s musical offering:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) – Christmas Oratorio (Weihnachts-Oratorium), BWV 248 Part V: For the First Sunday in the New Year 43. Chorus “Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen”