I have heard that the highest form of wisdom is kindness. It had always been an abstract idea to me until I saw kindness in action last Sunday. I was at Avondale with my friends when one of them felt drawn to a disabled homeless boy who had approached us. Instead of giving this young boy the ‘no money’ hand gesture, my friend went on to engage *Paul in conversation and then he wheeled him into the nearest shop, got him a pack of buns, paid at the till and bid him farewell. Kindness doesn’t always have to be big and grand, it can be simple and seemingly small, but one kind action can literally change someone’s day!
On the drive home, I saw something that made tears well up in my eyes. There was *Paul, generously sharing his buns with all the other homeless children. Though he had nothing himself, he found it in his heart to share the little he had received with many others. It was a beautiful scene. It got me thinking of how we expect so much from other people, we always hope that someone else will show the less fortunate around us love in some grand gesture. I am so guilty of holding other people to a standard that I am yet live up to myself in the area of kindness. Sometimes we avoid eye contact with beggars by the traffic lights so that they do not approach us, or we conjure up all kinds of excuses as we take a rather lazy and complacent approach to kindness. If you can be anything this Easter holiday, be kind! Trust me, you will be so much happier when you give someone a piece of your heart instead of rolling up the window.
Here are a few suggestions;
Pack simple jam/peanut butter sandwiches and hand them out to the less fortunate people you pass along the route you frequently travel along.
Or something I learned from Albert and Marlene; spare a few cents on ‘Fun and Fresh’ drinking sachets, and give them to the less fortunate people you encounter. It will cost you literally a few cents.
Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know. Kindness makes all the difference!
Happy Easter Holiday!!

Love Always
Noni
[*not his real name]