I used to think the best way to express that sentiment was that one should treat people as they’d want to be treated, but there’s a whole lot of hurt people walking around that haven’t healed enough to treat themselves kindly. If that’s you, I hope you start giving yourself grace and love and kindness today.
The reason I’m asking you to be kind to others is that you never know what silent, invisible struggles people are dealing with. There are mental health concerns, there are invisible disabilities, there are silent health concerns you wouldn’t know about unless someone wanted you to know. There are a whole lot of people out there dealing with countless struggles, and you’d never know it unless they wanted you to.
Some people have intermittent struggles, where Tuesday is a conquer all day, but by Sunday they’re toast or everything’s fine for a few weeks, then bam, they’re just simply missing for a while. Some people are expected to live life like nothing is going on, to still do all the things, even when their mental health has taken a dive or they’re going through age-related changes that severly impact their lives.
The point I’m trying to make is, you never know what others are struggling with. You don’t know if someone is on that edge and you’re there poised to pull them back or push them over. And since we don’t know, let’s all just be mindful of how we can impact others. A kind word, a random compliment, a smile, a prayer…
You can make a difference. What difference do you want that to be?